BandwidthThrottling

Latest

  • T-Mobile drops some overage charges in favor of bandwidth throttling

    by 
    Donald Melanson
    Donald Melanson
    04.28.2010

    Well, it looks like T-Mobile has some good news and some bad news for customers using its 5GB webConnect data plan. The good news is that the carrier will no longer be charging its $0.20 per megabyte overage fee for any data used beyond the 5GB limit, thereby effectively making the 5GB plan an unlimited plan. The bad news is that in place of an overage charge, it will be implementing bandwidth throttling on any data used on top of the standard 5GB, although it's not saying exactly how much it will slow things down. Customers using T-Mobile's basic 200MB monthly plan aren't left out of the changes either -- while they won't see any bandwidth throttling, they will see their overage charges cut in half from $0.20 to $0.10 per megabyte. Both changes are apparently effective immediately.

  • Comcast announces new bandwidth throttling scheme (update: old news)

    by 
    Joseph L. Flatley
    Joseph L. Flatley
    11.05.2009

    Comcast customers have been no stranger to bandwidth shenanigans over the years, from the whole torrent filtering mess to the 250GB monthly cap. Now the company is back with a new data throttling scheme intended to put the kibosh on excessive traffic during those times when the network is already being overwhelmed. The two-tiered system is put on alert if either more than 70 percent of your max bandwidth (downstream or upstream) is used for more than 15 minutes or if your particular Cable Modem Termination System gets congested and it decides that you're partially responsible. Should you run afoul of the traffic warden, expect to find yourself down-throttled for at least 15 minutes, or until your average bandwidth utilization rate drops below 50 per cent for 15 minutes. If there is no congestion, however, you shouldn't notice any difference whatsoever -- unless, of course, John McCain gets his way. Warning: PDF read link. Update: Due to crossed wires when researching this piece, we mistakenly reported that this policy was new. It is not. In fact, the throttling detailed above has been in effect for nearly a year.

  • CRTC sets net neutrality rules for Canada, allows throttling as 'last resort'

    by 
    Donald Melanson
    Donald Melanson
    10.21.2009

    The FCC may be yet to act on Chairman Genachowski's proposed net neutrality rules, but the agency's Canadian counterpart, the CRTC, has made a fairly significant ruling of its own on the matter today, and it seems like it may have manged to disappoint folks on both sides of the debate in the process. The short of it is that the CRTC will allow internet service providers to practice "traffic shaping" (a.k.a. bandwidth throttling), but only as a "last resort," and only after it has issued a warning that the throttling will take place (30 days in advance for regular users, and 60 days for wholesale customers). What's more, the CRTC is also recommending that ISPs "give preference to Internet traffic management practices based on economic measures" before cutting into customers downloads -- in other words, charge more for extra bandwidth, or offer discounts during non-peak hours. Read - CRTC ruling Read - The Globe and Mail, "CRTC sets Web 'throttling' rules"