[tlb]

I know that was the conventional wisdom, from back when backbone links were the bottleneck. But in the modern internet, almost all the congestion is at the edges.

Since most traffic for games is server->client, most of the congestion will happen when several users are competing for the same customer link (DSL or cable modem). This already happens with streaming services, and people just yell at each other to stop downloading updates while I'm watching Netflix.

[kazinator]

That could change one fine day when those edges get their stuff together.

Indeed, the subscriber lines and surrounding edge hardware have not kept up with the times. Depending on where you are and who your provider is, chances are you're getting the same shitty line rates you had ten years ago (or more), though you have more memory, a bigger hard drive and a faster CPU, and the backbone is faster.

[zlynx]

Anywhere with a lot of Gigabit Fiber installed, the congestion is _not_ at the edges. It's further in. If all of those installed Gigabit edges simultaneously used 1 Gbps download, it wouldn't happen. They'd get much less.