Bell Canada Ordered To Justify Traffic-Shaping Practices

somecanuckchick writes "The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has ordered Bell Canada to justify its traffic-shaping practices. The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission on Thursday told the company it has until June 23 to make public data that was marked confidential in a May 29 filing. Bell had said it needed to keep quiet the information, which details the level of internet traffic and possible congestion on its network, for competitive reasons."

Comments

Competitive reasons?

[Oxy the moron]

Is the implication here that, if they disclose how they are shaping their traffic, competitors will somehow seize that information and offer better service as a result? I don't think Bell Canada's customers are just chomping at the bit to get more traffic shaping on their lines, and I don't think they'd be any happier about it with a competitor, even if the prices were lower.

About the only logical application I can see of "competitive reasons" would be, "Oh no! Now our customers know we actually *were* screwing them hard, and now they're leaving for our competitors in droves!"

Re:Bell Canada is not the only one.

[Anonymous Coward]

Will Rogers be next? Cogeco?

Probably not, Bell Canada took the particularly egregious step of throttling not only their own customers, but everyone else's customers as well. It's one thing to ask people who have signed contracts with you to grab their ankles, but going after other companies' customers to make sure that your competitors' service sucks as bad as yours does... well, I suppose I could just say that this is the future of capitalism, as much as the free marketeers insist it won't be.

I'm sure that one of them will post saying how it's the government's fault for "letting this happen" and that if there weren't any rules or anything to even bother to pretend to look like someone is in charge, this wouldn't have happened because Bell Canada only did this to "stick it to the man" and not for any personal gain.

That's not competition....

[mr_nazgul]

That's hiding the made up bull that they pull. They would rather do this and save their investments in more infrastructure but still get more users and lines leased.

Sigh.

Bell knows that if people see what it is doing, with no valid reasons, that they will go to the competition. I used to be with Bell with internet, but went to another ISP after their "unlimited" placed a cap on my download limit.

Unfortunately, all the ISP now in my area have caps now, but at least you can choose what you need from mine. I can pay for fast speed with a low cap, or a high cap based on my needs. Bell never gave that choice. It was "Next month, you are going the have a limit, and we will charge you for every gig you go over. Plus you will be penalized if you cancel any contracts."

When they told me they would charge me for a canceling my Internet contract, I told them if they try, I would cancel my phone as well. They waived the fee.

Vote with your wallet! Truer words were never spoken or typed.

Now if I can just get cheaper and better phone provider....

Re:That's not competition....

[deraj123]

Bullshit. They've been granted the right to use public property to lay their infrastructure. Do any of these companies actually own all of the land that their lines are buried in? Therefore, the people have every right to place restrictions on how they can provide service.

I`ve said it before.

[Some1too]

I think bell really shot themselves in the foot with their argument that their lines are overwhelmed by traffic from torrents or 'heavy users'. This has really turned up the passion with the general public at large. Michael Geist www.michaelgeist.ca has an extremly infomative series of articles titled "a week in the life of the new canadian dmca" where he uses an every day normal family to explain what would and would no longer be acceptable if this law passes.

His facebook privacy group has swelled to over 65 000 individuals since it's creation. This included with the efforts of other canadian organizations (www.copyrightforcanadians.ca) has really brought this issue to the forefront of canadian politics. Net neutrality wasn`t even a whisper a few months ago, now it`s being talked about around the water cooler at work. So let me be one of the first to say it: Thank you Bell Canada. Thank you for being that large corporation which believes it has a right to do whatever it wants to it`s customers. You`ve helped out net neutrality in Canada more than you could of imagined.

I can`t wait to see just how clogged their resources are. I hope someone is able to cut through the legalese to give us a nice idea of how their equipment and service is really running.

Re:"Competetive Reasons" eh?

[Cathoderoytube]

Considering one of their supposed traffic shaping methods is deep packet inspection, the 'competitive reason' would be they'd be sued till their arms and legs were bloody stumps and they were just rolling around on the street while angry former customers beat them with shovels. Thus allowing the likes of Rogers to get the upper hand.

-Also on an unrelated note, I just received my internet bill, and I got hit with an extra $25 for 'bandwidth usage'. Thanks Bell

Re:Bandwidth versus latency...

[ratboy666]

Wha, wha, wha, WHAT?

1 - "Geeks" do work around "latency" issues -- I have been doing so since the dialup era. I run my own DNS server for this reason, and use nscd on local machines. I use SquidProxy.

2 - I don't work around traffic shaping. But a packet is just a packet. What the fuck does the ISP think it is doing when (re)prioritizing my packets? I guess I simply don't deserve ANY priority, right?

3 - You didn't address your argument for keeping shaping private. Explain WHY it should be private. I will gladly add quality of service requests to my packets -- IF THE SHAPING POLICY IS NOT PRIVATE.

4 - "A few geeks demanding maximum bandwidth". Sure, why not? What does Bell DSL advertise?

Let me give you a hint:

http://www.bellvideostore.ca/help/

This is Bells "download video" service.

"Technical Specifications:
720x480 maximum resolution, 30 fps, 1,500-2,200 kbps average bit rate. These videos will play on all 4th and higher generation Archos portable media players. THESE VIDEOS WILL NOT PLAY ON MOST PORTABLE VIDEO PLAYERS AND ARE NOT IPOD COMPATIBLE."

http://www.bell.ca/support/PrsCSrvGnl_mover_offers.page?region=ON&language=en&EXT=PDL2_SA_MOVE_2008Q2_AR_EN_ON_Google_bell%20dsl&s_kwcid=bell%20dsl|1920763120

"If you're moving, now's the perfect time to move up and into a Bell Better HomeTM: ...
        * The most powerful Internet"

Of course Bell (the ISP) offers a music store in addition to the video store:

http://musicstore.sympatico.msn.ca/help_en/index.html

Conflict of interest? No, they really need to shape traffic to keep up with that audio and video goodness.

Let's see how Bell advertises the service for new buyers (note the lack of fine print):

http://www.bell.ca/shopping/PrsShpInt_NewAccess.page?userType=NEW

"Total Internet Performance
Download high quality music files, stream video,or play games.

Best price
in a bundle$42.95/mo.
Bonus: Get 2 months free

Regular price: $47.95/mo. *"

(editors comment - the * footnote is NOT on this page, I have no idea what it means)

And my personal favorite:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ArpmbnxIQIQ

This ad aired until fairly recently.

So this ISP does bandwidth shaping -- why? Aren't they selling Total Internet Performance, the Bell Better Home (tm), Audio downloads and Video (even streaming) at near HD quality?

A FEW GEEKS DEMANDING MAXIMUM BANDWIDTH??? Hell, I would like to see the beavers deliver a fraction of the promises. And let's not get into "never shared, never slow" crap they advertised.

Law should be to disclose

[Anonymous Coward]

So let's end this confidentiality and pass legislation to force all Canadian isp's to provide the full set of specs. It seems to me that just like buying other equipment or services. The specifications should be displayed and cannot be misrepresented. Just like buying a TV or other elctronic device I want to see the specs so I may make an informed choice. There is no myterious technology here. It is just like any other consumer device.

I want Full Disclosure. I want to see exactly what my purchase is capable of and what I will recieve right on the label, so to speak. I want it just like any other product legislation in Canada. Why are only the internet providers allowed to pull this type of scam? Car company's are not allowed to misrepresent the engine displacement, nor can stereo amplifier companies misrepresent peak or continuous power output or even try to confuse the consumer. They must state what they are selling truthfully and according to standard measurement methods. If they tried to pull this type of scam, they would be paying huge fines.

The consumers should at least have the information available and choose to read it or not. Just like other product labelling in this country. If people don't want to think or let their friend pick for them, then fine, But get it out there for all to see.

Re:excuse me?

[Locklin]

The "Free Market" argument doesn't apply here. Bell has been subsidized by the government for the better part of a century, and given guaranteed monopolies in various areas (not to mention the fact that their lines are on public land). Bell does not operate in a free market, and never has.

On top of that, the "Free Market" doesn't work when the consumer is lied to and deliberately misled (there is nothing about traffic shaping in Bell's TOS, or in their contracts with the resellers).