Posted on 10/24/2009 12:26:42 PM PDT by ShadowAce
Canada's big Internet carriers have scored a major victory, as the telecommunication regulator ruled it is okay for them to slow down some of the Web traffic travelling to customers' personal computers – as long as the companies explain ahead of time what they are doing.
In a decision that clarifies its approach to the practice known as traffic shaping, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said Wednesday that companies such as Bell Canada, BCE-T Rogers Communications Inc. RCI.B-T and Telus Corp. T-T
should do everything they can to expand network capacity.
But if they have to slow down or “throttle” some kinds of Internet traffic – such as downloads of large video or movie files – during high traffic periods, they can do so.
The CRTC said home customers must be told 30 days in advance if their service provider is going to use some form of traffic management, and how it will affect their service. Wholesale customers – such as smaller service providers who piggyback on the Bell, Telus or Rogers networks – must get 60 days notice.
The carriers won't need any advance rulings from the CRTC to manage their traffic, unless they plan to treat their wholesale clients differently than the rest of their customers.
If clients don't like what the carriers are doing, they can appeal to the CRTC.
The regulator said preference should be given to “economic” measures that control traffic, such as charging more for higher bandwidth, or giving discounts in off-peak hours. These are transparent and allow customers to make informed decisions, it said.
The CRTC's decision won praise from the big carriers, but was condemned by some who argue for “net neutrality” – the idea that all Internet traffic should be treated equally in order to foster...
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
Will Obama announce that conservative internet traffic is a danger to society and must be “slowed?”
But it's coming.
ATT currently has no limit on the bandwidth I use. If they ever start charging me for additional usage or limit me...it’s bye bye.
And it's their choice as to the websites they slow down.
Then I’m assuming it’s the P2P sites they’re targeting?
I’m sure that the opponents to net neutrality are extatic... and if they could, would switch to a Canadian ISP as soon as possible.
And traffic shaping is being done all day, every day, right now.
/johnny
“Will Obama announce that conservative internet traffic is a danger to society and must be “slowed?””
That’s a good point, but it is distinctly different from the case in Canada, where “slowed” is in reference to communications pipeline traffic management by companies that own and operate the pipeline, on their pieces of the pipeline.
I don’t like this.
I believe if you pay for bandwidth, you should be able to use that bandwidth as you see fit. I’m a firm believer in leaving the net like it IS. If that means ‘Net Neutrality’, then I’m all for it!
Not sites, but ports and protocols, via deep packet inspection by QOS. Not THAT should be illegal if it isn't clearly stated in your ISP service agreement. The entire 'net neutrality' issues is a question of whether companies can allow site subscribers to pay more to allow their traffic to have better performance. I'm against that. The net should remain the way it is now. You subscribe to a connection with bandwidth, and you should get that bandwidth.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.