It’s up to you: Prentice to Canadians on traffic throttling
p2pnet news | Freedom:- Industry minister Jim Prentice (right) has told Canadians it’s up to them if they want to do anything about the Net traffic throttling imposed by the major ISPs.
‘Shaping’ removes any chance of Net neutrality for customers, and seriously reduces bandwidth, particularly for people using P2P applications.
Accused by NDP digital issues critic Charlie Angus of failing to understand the importance of maintaining a fair and neutral Net, Prentice yesterday avoided Angus’ questions about the government’s stance, “on practices employed by Canadian Internet service providers that restrict the flow of certain types of Internet data,” says the Globe & Mail.
As p2pnet reported earlier today, Angus asked Prentice what the government was doing to about concerns over, “when it should be permissible for telecom companies to regulate or ‘shape’ the flow of traffic on their networks,” as the story puts it.
But, “At this point in time we will continue to leave the matter between consumers on the one hand and Internet service providers on the other,” the Globe and Mail quotes the minister as saying.
Last, week, in a letter to the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ), NUPGE (National Union of Public and General Employees) said it’s become, “increasingly concerned about the issue of network neutrality and Canada’s lack of action to protect consumers and producers of Internet material”.
America’s largest provider, ComCast, similarly charged with traffic shaping, is trying to wriggle out of its difficulties through a deal with corporate P2P company BitTorrent.
But the company said it’ll still “manage” traffic during peak periods.
On April 7 Bell will implement traffic shaping across its entire network, said p2pnet at the end of last month, going on >>>
It might have been a virtual fait accompli by now had not p2pnet’s ‘Ottawa Gal,’ and Canadian ISP TekSavvy first blown the whistle in November, 2007.
With the story now receiving widespread coverage, p2pnet has unconfirmed reports a new explosion is ready to occur, and one with even more severe implications for net neutrality.
The explosion will include a stop-sell on Bell’s current $25 Unlimited Usage Plan, says an official March 13 document seen by p2pnet.http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15438
It states:
The Unlimited Usage Plan will still be available in your ordering tools until further notice; however, we ask that you not sell this plan to a customer under any circumstance. All incentives/payouts related to selling this plan are being discontinued.
If a customer insists on receiving unlimited usage, please soft transfer them immediately to the SCS Usage Queue via the A2A transfer application.
Please note that the 30 GB Usage Insurance Plan @ $10/month remains available to High Speed, Ultra, Performance, Optimax & Max customers.
Stay tuned..
Globe & Mail – Prentice mum on ISP throddling debate, April 2, 2008
p2pnet – Charlie Angus slams Bell over traffic ‘throttling’, April 3, 2008
NUPGE – Bell Canada traffic shaping: update III, March 31, 2008
wriggle out of its difficulties – Comcast deals with BitTorrent, March 28, 2008
across its entire network – New Bell Canada scandal looms, March 30, 2008
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April 4th, 2008 at 7:38 am
I’ve been posting a number of messages to the digital-copyright.ca website. The Minister is incorrect about the issue in that it isn’t Net Neutrality or even really “Internet” related, and it is a government regulated monopoly that is sitting between customers and the ISP that is the issue.
And then there was two: Bell Canada seeks to wipe out ISP competitors
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/4610
It is unfortunate that the word “Internet” confused the Minister and he spoke about an entirely unrelated issue to the throttling of regulated services by a regulated monopoly.
April 12th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Strange how this topic is under the category “freedom”. As a Canadian, I’m certainly starting to see just how little freedom we have. This country has gone to hell…