said by funchords:Exactly, but only Comcast's VOIP is exempt.
Comcast Digital Voice (CDV) customers use heavy-bandwdith apps, also. Their heavy bandwidth usage has no effect on their calls. The same heavy bandwidth usage by VoiceStick, Vonage, or Skype users will result in dropped packets which will probably degrade or destroy their VOIP calls. (Again, I can't test it until it's here, but it's clear that streaming video and voice can't hold up to long series of dropped packets.)
Since CDV does add to DOCSIS port utilization (where packets get admitted) and to router congestion (where packets get dropped), a CDV customer's VOIP usage actually results in further degrading the service of VoiceStick, Vonage, or Skype customers.
This problem is easily fixed -- just end the exemption. Comcast should not need to prioritize CDV at all if it manages its bandwidth inventory well. You mentioned it yourself -- the connection to the PSTN is very close. Even if CDV is not exempt from the Scavenger treatment, it still ought to outperform its competitors with more distant interconnects. How many non-competitive advantages does Comcast need?
Comcast just needs to keep up with bandwidth demand, treat all traffic equally, disclose what it's doing and what it's selling, temporarily stop selling more subscriptions when they need to upgrade, keep their tiers within reason even if FIOS and DSL are competing, and etc.. You know,
the kinds of things it always ought to have done! What can I say here guy ?
