Flu Could Put Internet On Life Support
Like many big organizations, Comcast Corp. is taking precautions to halt the spread of H1N1 flu. For one, it has distributed bottles of hand sanitizer to employees reports The Chicago Tribune.
But Comcast, the nation’s largest residential Internet provider, with 14 million high-speed subscribers, may have a bigger problem if the flu leads to rampant absenteeism by students and workers. All those people may be online at home simultaneously, a recent government report warned, causing an Internet meltdown.
Homebound workers and ailing children could overload the Internet with video game downloads, Web surfing, online shopping and Webcast viewing. Neighborhood telecommunication nodes that act as traffic cops for the Internet could be overwhelmed with data.
A Government Accountability Office report released late last month said the Internet could slow dramatically if worker absenteeism reached 40 percent — a reasonable speculation for a severe flu outbreak.
Photo by stltoday.
danec on November 9th, 2009 12:45 pm
Flu Could Put Internet On Life Support http://bit.ly/4AfA9Z
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IdeatoEmpire on November 9th, 2009 1:54 pm
Flu Could Put Internet On Life Support http://bit.ly/3VvzBM
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Jaclyn Wells on November 9th, 2009 2:42 pm
I never thought of it like that. But when you really sit down and think about it, that is quite possible. With so many people at home ill and not able to go out and do anything, many of them will turn to the internet for their entertainment and their way of staying to connected to their friends and family that they can’t see…this would cause a very big slow down in the way the internet connection goes.
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