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Friday January 20, 2012 |
The CRTC has written
to Rogers Communications to advise that its investigation has concluded
that the company violated the Internet traffic management rules (better
known as net neutrality rules). The letter
notes:
Based on the preliminary results of
our ongoing investigation, Commission staff is of the belief that
Rogers Communications Inc. (“Rogers”) applies a technical ITMP to
unidentified traffic using default peer-to-peer (“P2P”) ports. On the
basis of our evidence to date, any traffic from an unidentified
time-sensitive application making use of P2P ports will be throttled
resulting in noticeable degradation of such traffic.
The CRTC notes that prior approval is required for degradation of time
sensitive traffic and gives Rogers two weeks to rebut the evidence or
become compliant with the law. The case highlights a newfound
willingness by the CRTC to investigate and enforce the net neutrality
rules with full research into the effect of Rogers' traffic shaping
practices. This represents a major step forward as it sends a
clear
message - after several years of doubt - that the CRTC is prepared to
enforce the net neutrality rules. Given the recent announcement
that Bell is abandoning traffic shaping, the question is whether Rogers
will follow suit or drag out the process by facing CRTC enforcement and
further user complaints.
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Tuesday December 20, 2011 |
Bell advised
the CRTC yesterday that it plans to drop all peer-to-peer traffic
shaping (often called throttling) as of March 1, 2012. While the
decision has been described as surprising
or as quid
pro quo for the usage based billing ruling, I think it is neither
of those. The writing was on the wall in October when Bell announced
that it was dropping the traffic shaping for wholesale traffic, citing
reduced network congestion from P2P. At the time I wrote that the Bell
move:
raises the prospect that Bell's
current throttling practices may now violate the CRTC's Internet
traffic management guidelines. While Bell says its congestion has been
reduced, its retail throttling practices have remained unchanged,
throttling P2P applications from 4:30 pm to 2:00 am. Given the
decline
in congestion, a CRTC complaint might ask whether the current
throttling policy "results in discrimination or preference as little as
reasonably possible" and ask for explanation why its data cap policies
"would not reasonably address the need and effectively achieve the same
purpose as the ITMP."
The CRTC Internet
traffic management practice policy,
often referred to as the net neutrality rules, make it clear that the
Commission prefers network investment and "economic ITMPs" (ie. usage
charges) to traffic shaping. The Bell
letter
to the CRTC addresses this directly, citing its network investment, the
use of economic ITMPs, and declining P2P file sharing as a proportion
of network traffic as the reason for the change. Given the CRTC rules,
Bell had little choice but to drop traffic shaping since it was
increasingly difficult to justify given network and marketplace
developments.
The big question is now how much longer Rogers will maintain its throttling
practices. Most of the larger Canadian ISPs no longer traffic shape
(Cogeco seems to have quietly
dropped it after maintaining just two years ago that it had no
other alternative),
leaving Rogers as the outlier. Moreover, the company is currently
facing an enforcement action for violating the CRTC ITMP rules with
respect to the impact its throttling practices have had on online
gaming. The company might try hold out for awhile, but given the
network congestion profile in Canada and CRTC pressure to address
its net neutrality violations, it seems likely that it will follow
Bell's lead or face
further complaints that its practices do not comply with CRTC policy.
bell, itmp, net neutrality, rogers, traffic shaping Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareTuesday December 20, 2011 |
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Friday October 28, 2011 |
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The ongoing complaint against Rogers by Canadian Gamers Organization
against Rogers over its throttling practices is now headed
to the CRTC
enforcement branch. The precise nature of the enforcement remains
unknown.
crtc, net neutrality, rogers, throttling Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareFriday October 28, 2011 |
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Monday September 26, 2011 |
The Rogers astroturf lobby campaign
against a spectrum set-aside, which sneakily
uses people interested in a notification on when LTE may be available
in their market, foreshadows a major battle over the rules on the 2012
spectrum auction. Much like the 2007 battle over the AWS auction, the
incumbents will argue that the market is already sufficiently
competitive and that any set-aside will unfairly advantage new
entrants. The 2007 battle included submissions from Rogers and Bell
that insisted that Canada was already "extremely competitive" and that
consumer prices for wireless services very low. For example, Rogers argued:
Canadian consumers are very satisfied
with their choice of Canadian providers, pricing plans and technology
options. Consumers are the first to object in the face of poor
competition among service providers, yet surveys indicate the exact
opposite sentiment.
The company added that "contrary to many statistics that are used and
quoted irresponsibly, Canadian consumers fair very well when compared
to other countries. Canadian carriers offer
some of the most competitive rates in the world."
The government rightly rejected the incumbent arguments and established
a set-aside that led to new entrants such as Wind Mobile and
Mobilicity.
astroturf, rogers, spectrum Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareMonday September 26, 2011 |
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