Data Movement

Before FTL it took years to send data from one system to the next. Far away colonies would have taken dozens of years. With the advent of Fold Drives data could move that same distance in just a few days, however it was very expensive because of the light matter. Plus there is a supply and demand of data storage going to any one place. Not only were their cargo ships moving goods, but specially designed data carrier ships that took data from one place to another.

When Gates came online they destroyed this industry by transporting data through the gate for a fraction of the cost, for most people this cost was made free by their ISP to encourage their service. Now data can move across the Gate Network nearly instantly. While still not good enough for online gaming, it’s getting close and if you’re okay with some lag then you could do online gaming across the Gate Net.