Bell Canada admits using DPI to throttle traffic
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- In a bid to present itself as a reasonable company applying reasonable measures to manage a serious problem created by a small number of users, Bell Sympatico is trying to excuse its practice of using Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) to throttle customers’ bandwidth.
The company claims it isn’t trying to rigidly control what users do with the bandwidth they pay for every month for its own purposes.
Rather, it’s, “using the latest, state-of-the-art technology to improve the customer experience for a vast majority of our customers’ favourite applications,” it promises on a new web site.
And you thought it was just another greedy corporation that couldn’t give a damn about the people who keep in business.
Shame on you. Shame!
To blame, Bell implies, are customers who use BitTorrent, Gnutella, Limewire, Kazaa, eDonkey, eMule, WinMX, “etc”.”
‘Hijacking’ data packets
“Deep packet inspection or DPI is a technology used in the industry to examine the types of traffic going across a network, but not the content,” Bell says disingenuously, failing to point out DPI has been roundly and repeatedly condemned in America and Europe.
A p2pnet post quotes CAIP (Canadian Association of Internet Providers) as saying in a submission to Canadian regulators, “Bell is using DPI to sequester or ‘hijack’ certain data packets as they pass through the network, and hold these packets hostage until certain pre-conditions are met …”
And CIPPIC (Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic) wants the Canadian privacy commissioner to open an investigation because, it says, Bell hasn’t only, “failed to obtain the consent of its retail and wholesale internet customers in applying its deep-packet inspection technology, which tells the company what subscribers are using their connections for,” it’s using Deep Packet Inspection to, “find and limit the use of peer-to-peer applications such as BitTorrent, which it says are congesting its network”.
In the same story, “If you’re a P2P file sharer, Sandvine CEO Dave Caputo loves you because in his eyes, you’re a ‘bandwidth hog,’ said p2pnet, going on to explain Sandvine is a Canadian company which makes its living by creating and selling online spy technologies used not only in Canada and the US, but around the world.
It does so to “strengthen customer loyalty” and, “protect and improve the quality of experience” on the Net, it says.
Caputo’s observation came in the p2pnet post focusing on a CBC Q&A with him at the recent Canadian Telecom Summit, “highlighted by a panel discussion on net neutrality, the slightly amorphous topic that generally revolves around how much control service providers have over internet access”.
It went on whenever you see a corporate product with ‘fair’ in the name, you can be 100% sure it’ll be the exact opposite, continuing »»»
“Canadian digital restrictions management company Sandvine has come out with a product sure to make the likes of Bell Canada and Rogers glow.”
It’s called FairShare which, “automatically responds to the changing network environment and subscriber usage patterns in real-time,” says Sandvine.
It’s all about control. Consumer control, without consumer consent or participation (our words), and, “At the heart of that control is technology developed by the likes of Waterloo, Ont.-based Sandvine Inc., which allows service providers to determine what type of traffic is going over their networks, and manage [restrict] accordingly,” says the CBC in the intro.
To do what it do, Sandvine’s so-called FairShare must be constantly spying on users, said the p2pnet story, going on although DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) isn’t mentioned, “one wonders if it figures in Sandvine’s FairShare”.
DPI, says the Wikipedia, “enables advanced security functions as well as internet data mining, eavesdropping, censorship, etc”.
Now, on its new website, “Customers may experience extended download and upload times when using P2P file sharing applications during the daily scheduled traffic management period which is currently scheduled from 4:30 pm to 2:00 am EST,” Bell Sympatico states, going on to blame its customers who use P2P for other possible problems which may arise due to Bell traffic throttling activities.
“Are there other applications that could be impacted by Bell’s traffic management measures?” – it asks, continuing »»»
If you’re using an application/protocol during peak periods, such as encrypted FTP and find that it cannot attain full speed, please first ensure that you are using the standard port assigned for the application/protocol in question (as per the IANA: http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers).
If you cannot find the application/protocol listed in the IANA’s website or you’re not currently using the assigned port listed, it is possible that the application/protocol being used may be impacted by traffic management if you are using a P2P file sharing application at the same time.
To resolve this issue, please close the affected application and ensure that all P2P file sharing applications are also not running. When you turn back on the affected application, ensure you are using the standard port assigned and that no P2P file sharing applications are open at the same time.
Note: It may take up to 10 minutes after terminating the P2P applications before you restart the affected application to ensure the application is not affected by traffic management.
If the problem continues to exist after performing the above steps, please contact us by posting your problem here (registration required).
If you resort to the last measure, don’t hold your breath waiting for a reply.
Meanwhile, stay tuned as the Bell versus its Own Customers saga continues to unroll.
(Thanks, Luvie)
Deep Packet Inspection – Phorm and DPI: Alex Hanff, May 20, 2008
America – Arts+Labs, your friendly DPI company, September 27, 2008
Europe – EC targets Phorm, May 27, 2008
sequester or ‘hijack’ – Sandvine Not-So-Fairshare business model, June 23, 2008
p2pnet – Sandvine FairShare traffic throttling, May 21, 2008
CBC – Internet monitoring a necessity: Sandvine, June 19, 2008
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October 18th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Big Broth(ER).
October 18th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
The title of this story should be:
Bell Canada “FINALLY” admits using DPI to throttle traffic
Its been over a year and this is the first time they finally put something up on their website.
Over a year later!
October 18th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
^^ That was the original title, but it was too long to fit in the headline space available.
Cheers!
October 19th, 2008 at 3:52 am
newsflash: its cheaper to post the information on your website and lead angry customers to it, rather than try and explain the mischievous activities of DPI over the phone (to hundreds if not thousands of unimpressed customers)
… this is news?
October 19th, 2008 at 4:30 am
Reader’s Write Says:
… this is news?
============
Well considering they have been throttling over a year and never said a thing to their customers, and only now put up some half-assed web page about it… Guess it is news.
October 19th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
proof they are lying
get up everyone next saturday and GO download
oddly no problems.
BTW this smacks of the class action lawsuit they are getting sued over in both quebec and ontario
its admiting to wanting to lose both cases.
can bell handle a few billion here and there while it tries to sell it self into 30+ billion more debt?
does england want to shell in 8+ billion to this mess now that it owns the bank of scotland?
So they also admit to breachng my privacy in order that the single seat on the bus they sold 20 tickets too
so they can make a few extra greedy dollars.
heres another nice quote “Bell is not going to honor your contract PERIOD”
no reason just hey here screw you accpet it or not.
And if you dont expect them to try tackin on early termination fees anyways.
AND YES I AM TACING BELL CANADA november 1st
TO SMALL CLAIMS COURT
for 10,000$ for damages and pain and suffering.
Also i will inform the RCMP of fraud,
the CCTS of such activities ( should nail up a few grand in costs to bell there )
ENJOY YOU PATHETIC WORMS.
October 20th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
This is one of the many reasons that I am working with both my home town and my current town in building out a complete alternative to Bell which doesn’t touch the Bell anywhere within the town limits. Ever hear of a town in rural Ontario with fibre to the home? If all goes as plan, you will soon enough.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Now let’s all be mature and head on over to that new web page of theirs. At the bottom, you should see “Did this page answer your question(s)?” and three buttons below. Click no, and in the text field that appears go ahead and leave Bell a nice little love note.
November 6th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Just a few things nobody seems to notice here
The movie industry has been trying to get the ISPs to throttle/kill P2P for years, they want their own issue of movie piracy to overrule all other concerns.
The ISPs all told them to get lost, they weren’t going to mess with that. Too expensive, nothing in it for them except the ire of their customers.
Until US Comcast started doing it in 2007.
We notice a pattern there, that we see again and again in this sudden “traffic management crisis”.
They claimed it was to benefit customers, there was a network traffic crisis. And curiously, they opened an online movie store… at the same time!
Now in Canada, ISPs are using the same technique, imported from the same US vendors. Saying that it solves their traffic problem, even though they can’t explain their problem, and don’t know how the technology works to solve the problem.
And … you guessed it… opening online movie stores !
Connect the dots, the movie industry has found the incentive to get ISPs to throttle P2P.
That’s fraud folks… They are selling their power to disable a service to me to a 3rd party who wants that service disabled.
It’s not about traffic management. Why does anybody humour the ISPs, by even talking on those terms?
They are so sure the CRTC would be friendly or ineffective, they haven’t even tried to make a case for it.
The FCC in the US has ruled the practice illegal. The CRTC won’t be able to drag feet on this forever, as long as there is a minimum public awareness in their face. How about it folks?