Wednesday, June 25,2008 @ 1:50pm
Bell Canada forced to disclose congestion figures
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.