[Survey]: How do US Universities Manage Bandwidth?

A recent survey by ACUTA, the Association for Information Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education, shows that universities are still facing bandwidth management problems, same as 10 years ago when music downloads saturated their internet links, specially for those who were offering broadband services for students living on campus.

The second annual State of ResNet Report surveyed 251 universities or colleges, of which 24% were large institutes with more than 15,000 students.

The main conclusions:

• 61% of respondents expect the cost of providing ResNet to increase over the next two years. Half of those respondents expect an increase of 5% or more.
   
• Despite rising costs, 44% of schools reported no change in the portion of their operating budget devoted to ResNet over the last two years.
    
• 10% reported a decrease in ResNet funding over the same period, while 31% reported an increase.
   
• The top three factors attributed to increased spending are the cost of increasing bandwidth (72%), the cost of network hardware/software (63%) and the costs of providing new services to residents (50%).

Regarding bandwidth management:

• Despite considerable demand, most schools enforce minimal restrictions on bandwidth access in student residence halls.
   
• 68% of schools do not cap individual bandwidth usage for student residents.
   
• Of the institutions that cap usage, 16% provide students with the option to pay for additional bandwidth.

However, "A majority of colleges and universities manage bandwidth usage through various means, most commonly through shaping and limiting bandwidth by protocol"

Related post "Does the Education Market need Bandwidth Management?" - here.

See "2013 Second Annual ACUTA State of ResNet Report" - here.