[owenwil]

I think we'll always find ways to use up the available bandwidth, even as it expands to new highs – but the real limiter has been how inconsistent high-speed deployments are, so it's difficult to reliably use them today.

I have a 1.5 Gbps synchronous connection here in Canada, but a few blocks away the max is 100mbps; we're not optimizing/building for fast connections because they're not widely deployed, not because we can't find ways to use them. Being able to play Stadia at ultra-low latency in 4K HDR is magic and shows a connection like this' value.

Making telco networks a public utility would help in this regard, especially if they have an actual goal of connecting everyone equally. In New Zealand, where I grew up, we broke up the telco and made fiber connectivity a public utility (chorus.co.nz) with a mandate to install fiber for free, anywhere in the country, which all ISPs can leverage. It not only increased competition, but it's helping create consistency, and will allow developers/content creators to dream up apps that can consume that type of bandwidth, because there's enough ultra-fast connections to actually make it worth bothering with.