While you may pay a good amount every month in order to connect to the internet, giants on the World Wide Web may be paying significantly less or even nothing at all. A recent report published by Arbor Network suggests that Youtube, in spite of sharing 100 billion videos throughout the globe every year, does not have to pay a single penny in bandwidth bills. This further suggests that the popular rumor that the internet morphs itself according to the user’s behavior may indeed ring true in some cases.

Google’s traffic has been observed as fast approaching as much as 10% of the total internet traffic in the world. This has probably given Google a significant advantage. It now has so much fiber optic cable at hand, that it is trading traffic with other ISP giants. This, in turn, is bringing down the expenses of Google. Craig Labovitz, Chief Scientist at Arbor, commented on the findings, saying, “I think Google’s transit costs are close to zero.”

This trend lends credibility to the concept that the way internet traffic is maintained is undergoing rapid evolution in recent years. In fact, top 30 websites on the internet, with Google in the lead, serve up around 30% of the total internet traffic. This serving may be done via data centers located at various places around the world, or via the website’s own fiber optic network.

A major portion of the internet was served by a total of around 30,000 servers in 2007. In 2009, as much as 50% of the internet was served by as few as 150 blocks of servers. This shows that the control over internet traffic is slowly being taken up by a handful of servers.

Lebovitz commented on the scenario, saying, “What we mean by the internet is changing and it’s happening really quickly. I was blown away to find out that one-tenth of the internet is going [to] or coming from Google.”

The majority of the blocks are from servers of Google and popular content-delivery networks, including Limelight and Akamai. These transfer content from server farms around the world to various websites, at rates far lower than what would be needed to self-host the same content.

Giants like Google may also start asking organizations like Comcast to connect the Google tubes directly with the smaller, localized ISP networks for a fee. That way, the users will be most benefited, since they will experience much faster download speeds on sites like YouTube, as well as faster browsing speed when conducting a Google search. Lebovitz added that the consumers would be most benefited, should an arrangement like that actually take place in future.

Don’t forget that if you need to perform an internet speed test, try out our free tool on homepage.

Top 10 Broadband has come up with a broadband speed test service that allows users to compare their internet connection speed with that of their neighbors. The test involves measuring the user’s internet connection speed via an interactive interface. The interface is quite good looking, but otherwise, it looks like just another generic speed test on the internet. Users can run the test by typing in their postcode and name of the ISP.

Once the test runs, it switches to Google maps, where users can click on their locality. They are then shown the average results that their neighbors have had. Of course, those neighbors would have to have opted for the test beforehand. The user can also see a graph showing national trends in broadband speeds simply by clicking on an icon.

This test allows the user to be informed about the average speed of internet connection in his/ her locality. This also helps in finding problems that may occur with a standard internet connection. For instance, if a user finds out that his/ her neighbor enjoys a download speed of 25 kbps, and he/ she only gets 15 kbps with similar hardware configuration and the same plan from the same ISP, then there is obviously something wrong. The user can then take the matter up with the relevant authorities and have it sorted out.

The test also allows users to find out which ISPs are performing the best, since it provides results regarding broadband speeds of all ISPs, major or minor, that are operating in the test area. On one hand, this has the advantage of letting the user pinpoint the best ISPs operating in his/ her locality and to choose the best one based on consistency in performance. On the other hand, it has the unavoidable side effect of the users knowing which ISPs cannot provide consistently high performance. This may put many smaller ISPs, even those which provide services at substantially low rates, to go out of business.

Alex Buttle, on behalf of Top 10 Broadband, commented, “We do get commission from an ISP if a visitor to the site clicks through to buy a service because we are a comparison site and have always offered this service. However the speed test is totally independent”. He also added that the test does not identify any individual house, so the identities of the people who take the test are not exposed online. Besides, once on user has completed the test, he/ she can use an option to disallow the site from saving his/ her test results, thus providing even better privacy protection.

Two major providers of pay-TV in USA, namely, Verizon Communications, Inc., and Time Warner Cable Inc have planned to test their systems designed to offer television shows on the web to paid subscribers. This is being seen as a move to protect their revenue earned from subscriptions. The two organizations announced their plans separately on Thursday, and are going to follow Comcast Corp, which is the largest cable operator in United States. Comcast announced back in July that it was going to test out a Web TV service with a selected group of customers.

Pay-TV companies have expressed concern that the subscription revenue of cable TV, which has not taken much hit even during the ongoing economic recession, could take a serious hit if cable TV shows could be viewed by just about anyone on the web. As an alternative the cable network industry, under leadership of Jeffrey Bewkes, Chief Executive of Time Warner, has begun testing out a new concept known as TV Everywhere. It will provide a way to paying customers to access cable shows over the internet through an authentication procedure. The initial trial, according to Time Warner Cable, will include the channels Syfy (owned by NBC Universal), TNT (owned by Time Warner), AMC (of Cablevision Systems Corp.), IFC and Sundance Channel, and finally, BBC America (of BBC). The trial will also involve Discovery Communications Inc and CBS Corp.

The test will be based on providing cable TV shows via the Web to 5,000 paying customers. They will be able to view the shows on Time Warner’s Web properties, and also access the shows on the websites of the network. Verizon will launch a test round of its TV Everywhere of its FiOS TV on the web with programming from Turner Networks (under Time Warner), TBS, and TNT. The service will be available to FiOS subscribers at no extra cost.

DirecTV Group Inc, the largest provider of satellite TV services in United States, is also reportedly working on a plan similar to TV Everywhere.

Major free-to-air broadcast networks are dependent on advertising, not subscription packages, for their revenue. As such, these networks have made their shows freely available on the internet, with a healthy dosage of advertisements accompanying every show. The big names include Hulu (owned by News Corp.), Walt Disney Co, and NBC Universal. Their shows aired over the Web are free for everyone and include popular names like “The Office” or “House.” In some cases, some shows are even downloadable by viewers for free.