Bell Canada forced to disclose congestion figures
updated 01:50 pm EDT, Wed June 25, 2008
Bell Canada congestion
Bell Canada has been made to disclose figures for the actual congestion of its Internet connections, according to Broadband Reports. The information was demanded by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which is responding to complaints that Bell has been throttling peer-to-peer traffic -- such as BitTorrent transfers -- as delivered to its ring of wholesale ISPs. By doing so, it is alleged, Bell made it impossible for third parties to compete with Bell's own Sympatico Internet service. The throttling was necessary to cope with network demands, Bell has responded.
The figures depict the monthly percentage of congested links between March of 2007 and May of 2008, which Bell claims are evidence of congestion "significant to network traffic engineers," so long as it is presented "in the proper context." Many critics, however, suggest that the congestion is in fact fairly low, although the CRTC has yet to complete a formal analysis.
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Joined: Aug 2001
Shenanigans!
Bell's own documentation says they have 500GB/sec of capacity but current demand (total) is 120GB/sec.
While I would acknowledge that a small percentage of users are disproportionately hogging the system AND that this is a growing problem AND that Bell and others have to think ahead, it's clear that as of today their argument is total BS.
Charge high-downloaders an extra fee, work with other ISPs to block spammers, and voila! Your capacity will come roaring back.