Seems to me it would be helpful to share some links and information about the internet and internet health, since many of us use it daily and some rely on it for their livelihood. Unless you work for or connect to the internet via a Tier 1 network/company, you probably pay an ISP (Internet Service Provider) to connect.
There are sites you can check when your internet service slows down, such as Internet Health Report, a breakdown of mobile and internet service by company (note that Level3 is a company as well); Internet Traffic Report, a well-established and world-wide monitoring service.
Many ISP's offer web pages that perform a speed test; note that these tests only work for connections between you and your provider. Some ISP's offer a page that reports the status of their network. Another thing that affects your experience of the internet is how fast pages load. This is mostly a function of your browser. Clearing the cache and recent history will often fix slowdowns.
Graphics that show internet backbone congestion are also available, but limited. The Akamai Technologies site offers a suite of visualization tools online. Akamai accounts for 15-30 percent of the global web traffic. For truly inclusive real time internet usage in a visual format, you may have to develop a viewer. CAIDA (Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis) is a good resource for information. The problem appears to be that each company owns its part of the internet and doesn't want to share.
Companies own the undersea cables that connect distant areas as well. For an idea of how countries/areas are connected, take a look at this map by Nicolas Rapp.
Hmmm, if so much of the internet is owned by private companies, maybe we do need to assure that the internet is kept free. BTW, wikipedia's annual campaign for donations is on; give 'em five.
-- Marge
There are sites you can check when your internet service slows down, such as Internet Health Report, a breakdown of mobile and internet service by company (note that Level3 is a company as well); Internet Traffic Report, a well-established and world-wide monitoring service.
Many ISP's offer web pages that perform a speed test; note that these tests only work for connections between you and your provider. Some ISP's offer a page that reports the status of their network. Another thing that affects your experience of the internet is how fast pages load. This is mostly a function of your browser. Clearing the cache and recent history will often fix slowdowns.
Graphics that show internet backbone congestion are also available, but limited. The Akamai Technologies site offers a suite of visualization tools online. Akamai accounts for 15-30 percent of the global web traffic. For truly inclusive real time internet usage in a visual format, you may have to develop a viewer. CAIDA (Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis) is a good resource for information. The problem appears to be that each company owns its part of the internet and doesn't want to share.
Companies own the undersea cables that connect distant areas as well. For an idea of how countries/areas are connected, take a look at this map by Nicolas Rapp.
Hmmm, if so much of the internet is owned by private companies, maybe we do need to assure that the internet is kept free. BTW, wikipedia's annual campaign for donations is on; give 'em five.
-- Marge
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