A new IndieGogo crowdfunding project seeks to make the task of manually controlling your internet bandwith a proper manual job. NetValve fuses established plumbing hardware with today's digital world more interested in the flow of 0s and 1s.
This interesting crowdfunding project is the brainchild of Ilker Dagli, a system and network administrator at Near East University in Cyprus. It works exactly as you might guess; a turn to the right slows down (righty tighty) your internet speed, but turn it to the left and you begin to free the full torrent of data that your broadband is capable of delivering.
The NetValve project overview is delivered with a very simple proposition "Do you want to control your internet bandwidth but you are not a network expert and need a simple solution?" It continues, "Here is the simplest one. Just turn the valve".
Highlights of the new network bandwidth controller device are as follows:
- You don't need to be a networking expert
- Limits the bandwidth on both download/upload
- Just turn the valve
- Plug and play
- Your mom also can limit your bandwidth
Working as a university sysadmin must have given Dagli the time and inspiration to think up this device. He might think it would be useful to deploy in various cupboards under lock and key around campus, for example, but what use of it to home users likely make up the majority of IndieGogo browsers? One suggestion in the highlighted bullet points is in controlling little Jonny's internet use in a way 'mom' can understand. However if there's a plumber in the house they might have preferred an up and down-stream twin gate valve setup.
At the time of writing the NetValve project isn't doing very well. It only has two backers with pledges totalling $75 of a $50,000 goal. That means no one had pre-ordered one of the finished 'premium products' yet, as that would require backing of $79+. However there's 30 days left to go…
