Comcast will start testing a new method for managing traffic on its network this week that targets heavy Internet users.
Starting Thursday, Comcast will test a new system that will throttle back or slow down traffic during times of congestion for heavy bandwidth users. The initial tests will be conducted in Chambersburg, Pa. and Warrenton, Va. Later this summer the company plans to expand testing to Colorado Springs, Colo.
Comcast, the largest cable provider in the U.S., has been under fire for months after it was discovered the company had been slowing down peer-to-peer traffic on its network. The company claimed it had singled out peer-to-peer, file-sharing traffic, because it was eating up an inordinate amount of bandwidth, which caused degradation across the rest of its customers.
Consumer groups were incensed by the tactic, and the blogosphere filled with criticism. The Federal Communications Commission is currently looking into the situation to see if Comcast has violated any of its Net neutrality principles.
Comcast has since begun working with peer-to-peer providers and has said that it will not target specific applications on its network. But the company contends that it still must find a way to better manage traffic on its network. And these latest tests, which will run in each market for a month, are meant to help the company figure out the best method for managing its network.
This latest approach is focused on individual users and does not target a specific application. If the network is congested, Comcast will slow down traffic for customers who are using over a certain threshold of bandwidth, regardless the applications they are running.
Comcast isn't the only cable operator struggling to keep up with bandwidth on its network. Time Warner Cable, the second largest operator in the U.S., has expressed similar concerns. The company said earlier this week that it will begin testing a new metering system in Beaumont, Texas.
The way it works is that subscribers who go over their limit for uploading and downloading material will be charged $1 per gigabyte. The test will only apply to new customers in the test region. The tiered pricing will work this way for the Internet portion of subscription packages that also include phone or video use: At the low end, users will pay $29.95 per month for service at a speed of 768 kilobits per second, with a 5GB monthly cap. At the high end, users will pay $54.90 per month for service at 15 megabits per second, with a 40GB cap.
It will be interesting to see how customers react to the both tests. Will the Comcast broadband hogs even notice their traffic has been slowed? And will Time Warner's customers take a beating if they go over their limits? I guess we'll know more when these tests are completed. Until then, if you're a customer in either of these tests, please let me know how it's going. You can reach me at maggie.reardon@cnet.com or feel free to post your comments on this blog.
Comcast is befriending another peer-to-peer software company in the hopes of finding a way to harness the power of P2P without choking its network.
On Monday, Comcast, the largest cable operator in the U.S., said it was entering a strategic relationship with the start-up GridNetworks, a company that makes software to manage peer-to-peer video traffic.
Comcast also said it has invested in the company's $9.5 million first round of funding, which was led by Panorama Capital. Cisco Systems also invested in this round of funding. Specific financial details of the funding have not been disclosed.
Comcast has become very interested in peer-to-peer companies after the company was accused last year of blocking or slowing down peer-to-peer traffic. The cable company argued that it was simply trying to manage its network, which has been overrun by customers using peer-to-peer applications. But the Federal Communications Commission and several consumer groups didn't buy the argument. After public pressure, Comcast said it would stop singling out specific kinds of traffic.
Other reports have recently surfaced that another cable operator has also been slowing down or blocking peer-to-peer traffic. Cox Communications was accused last week of slowing down BitTorrent traffic.
Peer-to-peer software can be both a curse and a blessing to service providers like Comcast and Cox. It distributes bandwidth-intensive content more economically than the traditional client-server model because it uses computers throughout a network to distribute pieces of the content. But even though the peer-to-peer model can dramatically cut costs for content distributors, it still uses an inordinate amount of bandwidth, which can choke some networks.
Companies, such as GridNetworks and BitTorrent, which invented a very popular peer-to-peer protocol, say they can help service providers harness the economic advantages inherent in the peer-to-peer protocol and help them run their networks more efficiently.
Comcast has already struck strategic partnerships to work with BitTorrent and Pando Networks.
"We are interested in the application of P2P concepts in a manner that puts the quality of the consumer experience first, and enables lawful distribution of copyrighted content while also efficiently utilizing the network," Tony Werner, Comcast chief technology officer, said in a statement.
Comcast hasn't said for certain which peer-to-peer technology it will use. But GridNetworks believes its software is uniquely designed to handle video distribution. And as cable operators distribute more high-definition content, they will need even more efficient means of distributing that content.
The Federal Communications Commission is edging toward taking action against cable operator Comcast for monkeying with its customers' peer-to-peer traffic, according to several news reports.
On Friday FCC Chairman Kevin Martin indicated during a speech at Stanford University's Law School that the commission may take action against the cable operator, which has been accused of blocking or slowing down the peer-to-peer file sharing service BitTorrent on its broadband network.
Martin didn't say for certain that the FCC would take action against Comcast. But he did say that he was troubled by Comcast's initial denial of slowing or blocking traffic, according to news reports from people who attended the speech. What worried him most was the fact that Comcast wasn't forthcoming to its customers about what it was doing.
"A hallmark of what should be seen as a reasonable business practice is certainly whether or not the people engaging in that practice are willing to describe it publicly," The Wall Street Journal quoted Martin as saying.
Comcast has argued that it doesn't block P2P traffic. Instead, it says it simply slows down packets so that it can better manage its network. The company has complained that file sharing software, such that used by BitTorrent, permits a few customers to use an inordinate amount of bandwidth, which degrades the network performance for the vast majority of its customers.
Martin has said he understands the need for companies to manage their networks. And he has said that reasonable network management practices are acceptable.
But video-sharing companies, academics, and public-interest groups say that Comcast's actions go beyond simple network management and actually violate several principles outlined by the FCC to ensure that traffic flows freely over the Internet. These groups have launched formal complaints against Comcast, and the FCC has been looking into these complaints.
The FCC held an open hearing last month to discuss whether or not Comcast went too far in its "traffic shaping" measures and what could be done to make the experience more transparent to consumers.
But now it looks like Chairman Martin, and by extension the commission, sees Comcast as going beyond simply managing its network. But even if the FCC decides that Comcast has violated Net neutrality principles, it's unclear what the agency can actually do to Comcast. The principles are not agency regulation. And there are no Net neutrality laws on the books, so it's hard to say what kind of enforcement the FCC can impose.
Still, if the FCC finds that Comcast has violated its Net neutrality principles, it will be a big deal. In the past, carriers have argued that regulation and new laws were not needed because network operators had not abused their power as network gatekeepers. But if the FCC acknowledges that one major broadband provider has crossed this line, then it could add more weight to the arguments of those supporting Net neutrality legislation.
TOKYO--Here's something for those of you who get all bent out of shape about Net neutrality.
Japanese telecommunications giant NTT Group is in the midst of preparing its Next Generation Network, or NGN. NGN promises to marry the versatility of the Internet with the reliability of the wired phone network. The company hopes to achieve nationwide coverage by 2010. Speeds will range from 30 megabits per second to 1 gigabit per second. The company didn't narrow it down further, but in any event the service will be faster than current DSL.
NGN will be used for a lot of stuff: to deliver images from security cameras to your home or office, carry high-quality VoiP calls, deliver on-demand movies, etc.
The company, however, will also have priority pricing. If you pay for the highest quality of service, you will get unimpeded service for digital TV delivery. If you are cheaper, and you don't pay for premium service, you might experience a few blips on the screen if a lot of your neighbors are tuning in.
NTT showed off how this might work to a group of reporters visiting its technology showcase center in the Otemachi section of Tokyo. When a third TV came on line, two screens with priority service continued to have great connections. A third began to crackle occasionally.
Priority service drives Net neutrality fans nuts because companies get to offer better service to those who pay for it. Since the service isn't rolled out in Japan yet, it's hard to say what the consumer reaction will be or how NTT will ultimately offer its services. But you could see some people getting upset if they sense unfairness or overreaching.
Speaking of demos, NTT also showed off a video-conferencing application but the voice-to-image synchronization was a bit off. Well, it's not 2010 yet.
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