the report said. “Private Internet providers have limited ability to prioritize traffic or take other actions that could assist critical teleworkers. Some actions, such as reducing customers’ transmission speeds or blocking popular Web sites, could negatively impact E-Commerce and require government authorization.

Hmmm… excuse my cynicism but it sounds like someone not in favor of Net Neutrality trying to set up an argument for content filtering etc at the ISP level.

In any case, as you said the argument falls apart. For one thing there is no shortage of bandwidth available to ISPs. There is a ton of under utilized capacity out there left over from the heyday of a decade ago when everyone and their pet dog was laying fiber everywhere but to where they should have bee – the home. That, however, is as they say another story though.

1. When I am really sick, I don’t feel like doing much but sleeping. Even watching TV can be tiring. I suspect at least some portion of the population will feel similarly.

2. When I telecommute, I usually do most of my work on my local PC and occassionally transfer files, send emails, etc. I’m not convinced that telecommuting workers will cause that much of a bandwidth increase. And the emails going to other companies would be going to them regardless – though perhaps they have 2 steps to take instead of one (home PC to corporate server and then to the recipient).

3. Kids playing games. Yeah, perhaps there will be an increase, but I can see many of them restricted to bed – if their parents are doing their job. Playing video games raises blood pressure, makes kids anxious, and can take lots of energy. That’s a surefire way to delay recovery.

4. Regardless of other things that I might do, shopping on-line is not something I enjoy when I’m feeling poorly. I could see a decrease in traffic to on-line stores just because people might not feel up to shopping. Thus, the demand for bandwidth to any specific on-line store may be less.

5. Finally, if there is a great increase in traffic, I would think that the problem will become self-limiting. For instance, if it is taking me a long time to download a file or surf the net, perhaps I’ll just get tired of it and stop using the Internet for now. Likewise, if the lag in an online game gets too great, I’d expect kids to stop playing because they won’t have as much fun as they constantly lose to others who are not experiencing such significant delays. As people choose to stop using the Internet, bandwidth will free up.

I’m not really sure of the value of this report -but I suspect the money that was spent on it could have been put to better use.