Consumerist: traffic shaping

Comcast Tells FCC It Doesn't Have Authority To Interfere With "Traffic Shaping"

Chris Walters — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:47:01 EDT

Comcast is now claiming that the FCC "has no legal power to stop the cable giant from engaging in what it calls 'network management practices' (critics call it peer-to-peer traffic blocking)," reports Ars Technica. In an amazing display of spin, Comcast writes that letting the marketplace "maximize consumer welfare" has been "enormously successful" as proven by the "Comcast customer experience"—seriously, we're not making up these phrases. On a less humorous note, the filing in which Comcast makes these claims also seems to imply that it will sue the FCC if it tries to enforce any changes on how Comcast blocks P2P traffic.

The three main points of Comcast's argument, which Ars Technica covers in greater detail, are:

1. "Congress has not given the FCC authority to act on this matter"

2. "The FCC's Internet Policy Statement does not give the agency the authority to deal with the issue"

3. "Regulating Comcast's ISP policies may violate the Administrative Procedures Act (APA)"

The article concludes that this may just be "legal saber rattling" on Comcast's part—but that it might also be "a warning to the FCC to expect a lawsuit following any action against ISP P2P blocking. FCC Chair Martin says he hopes to finish his investigation of Comcast by late June. "

"Comcast: FCC lacks any authority to act on P2P blocking" [Ars Technica]
(Photo: Monty Python)

Comcast: "We Throttle Traffic To Help Other Users; Besides, It's Not Permanent"

Chris Walters — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 14:59:12 EDT

Comcast is in heavy PR-spin mode this week following last week's reports that they spoof customers' computers to cancel peer-to-peer connections, and have been blocking corporate users from sending large attachments via Lotus Notes (that blockage was "fixed" last week, around the time this story broke). Comcast says that they don't "block" anything but rather delay requests, and that it's only done to improve overall performance for their customers.

A senior VP at Comcast said,

"During periods of heavy peer-to-peer congestion, which can degrade the experience for all customers, we use several network management technologies that, when necessary, enable us to delay - not block - some peer-to-peer traffic. However, the peer-to-peer transaction will eventually be completed as requested."

The AP tests seem to support this claim to some degree: one of their test downloads was able to be resumed 10 minutes after being blocked. The other tests were stopped at the 5-minute-mark, so there's only one corroborating example.

However, the EFF and Open Internet Coalition are calling bullshit on Comcast's overall explanation. Peter Eckersley at the EFF says,

"Characterizing that as delaying traffic I think is ... a stretch. What they are doing is spoofing traffic or jamming traffic. I think they are trying to create as much confusion about this story as they can because they've done something really scurrilous and out of line for an ISP, and I'm sure they've been burned by the community's reaction to it."

"Comcast Admits Delaying Some Traffic" [Wired]

Trying to send a large attachment through ...

Carey — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:14:05 EDT

Trying to send a large attachment through Lotus Notes? Comcast thinks you are a file sharing degenerate. Eat traffic shaping, office workers. [Ars Technica]