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story category Bell Canada: Throttling Aids Innovation
And nuclear waste is also a delicious noon-time snack....
10:01AM Monday Jul 14 2008 by Karl Bode
tags: competition · business · bandwidth · world · networking · Bell Sympatico · TekSavvy Solutions Inc.
Tipped by fatness See Profile
While Bell Canada has so far failed to prove that network congestion (not anti-competitive behavior) prompted them to throttle competing wholesalers without telling anyone, they're still trying their best to argue their way out of trouble. Their latest filing with the Canadian government attacks critics like Dave Burstein (who suggested that upgrades would have been inexpensive), and insists that throttling encourages innovation:
Several parties have claimed that traffic management will hinder innovation. The Commission should see these claims for what they really are: the use of policy rhetoric devoid of substance in order to promote vested business interests. Indeed, the opposite of these claims is clearly the case; necessity is the mother of invention. Without any regard to network capacity, P2P file sharing application designers could develop applications designed to use all of the bandwidth that is available.
Imagine a world where designers developed applications that actually used bandwidth (the horror, to quote Marlon Brando). Now imagine a world where instead of organically providing supply to meet that demand, companies did everything in their power to kill competition and offer the lowest quality product for the highest cost -- including lie, inflate demand, and throttle competitors so they couldn't offer a superior product.

Related:
  1. Bell Canada Must Prove Congestion Claims
  2. CRTC Orders Public Disclosure of Bell Traffic Data
  3. Bell Canada Offers 'Proof' Throttling Was Necessary
  4. Industry Laughs Off Bell Canada Congestion Claims
  5. Bell Canada Devises Backup Plan To Kill Wholesale Competitors
  6. Bell Outlines Plan To Cap Wholesalers
  7. Telus Says Bell Should Pay For Throttling Dispute
  8. TekSavvy Offers Connection Tweaking Contest
Forums » Bell Canada: Throttling Aids Innovation
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs:

Wow....

Is Bell Canada's office in Bizarro land or something? That is truly laughable.

I feel sorry for my Northern Brethren..

n2jtx

join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY
·Optimum Online

Re: Wow....

said by ptrowski See Profile :

Is Bell Canada's office in Bizarro land or something? That is truly laughable.

I feel sorry for my Northern Brethren..
Tell me about it. My youngest sister and her family live outside of Toronto and the stuff they have to put up with in the high-tech world. Three-year cellular contracts with stiff caps and ISP's that throttle and produce ever tighter caps.
--
I support the right to keep and arm bears.

en102
Canadian, eh?

join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
·DSL EXTREME

Throttling only aid innovation if you're a hacker... and can find ways around it.

Bell Canada's 'Innovation' is similar to someone fixing a bicycle tire with a glue gun and duct tape. Sure ... its innovative, it works, and ITS CHEAP.
Is it proper... not really
Will it work in a pinch .. sure
Is it safe ... who knows - the tire isn't balanced and the wheel doesn't ride smooth.
Do we care ... not really - as we're saving money at someone else's expense.
--
Canada = Hollywood North
Kearnstd
Elf Wizard

join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ
sure in inspires innovation in the R&D of new routers that throttle better and thats what matters to the ISP and Cisco.
--
[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports

LOL at Bell

@videotron.ca

LOL at Bell

LOL
Throttling Aids Innovation
hahaha

en102
Canadian, eh?

join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
·DSL EXTREME

Re: LOL at Bell

Throttling was Bell's innovative solution to how to deploy video streaming across their DSL lines without having to invest in increased bandwidth. Also required innovative B.S. on how to tell it to the customers.
--
Canada = Hollywood North
nasadude

join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD

throttle the CEO

I bet throttling (as in neck) the CEO of Bell Canada would aid innovation immensely.

Jason Levine
Premium
join:2001-07-13
Albany, NY

Re: throttle the CEO

"Necessity is the mother of invention. Without any regard to oxygen supply, the CEO could breathe in such a way as to use all of the oxygen that is available. So, you see, when we restrict his oxygen supply, it forces him to use his oxygen more efficiently!"

jeffster1970
Whatta Ya Think About Dat?
Premium
join:2004-04-01
Kitchener, ON
clubs:
·magicjack.com
·Acanac Inc.
·Bell Sympatico
·Vonage

said by nasadude See Profile :

I bet throttling (as in neck) the CEO of Bell Canada would aid innovation immensely.
Great, thanks a lot for giving me the idea. Next I'm going to find myself in jail for throttling the losers neck, and who do I have to thank?? YOU... Damn, you better visit me in jail, send me some Butterfingers. Oh, maybe Bell Portable Internet too, maybe it will have some competative edge by then.
--
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

sMoKeNiNja

join:2001-09-10
Wheaton, IL
clubs:

strange

so they want people to innovate ways to compress data better so it doesn't use as much bandwidth to send the same thing...

..but why don't they just innovate ways to get more bandwidth. fiber or something?
Tikker_LoS

join:2004-04-29
Regina, SK
·SaskTel Saskatchewan

Re: strange

said by sMoKeNiNja See Profile :

so they want people to innovate ways to compress data better so it doesn't use as much bandwidth to send the same thing...

..but why don't they just innovate ways to get more bandwidth. fiber or something?
well, they're kind of half right

go back in time 15-20 years and see the kind of stuff that companies were doing to cram as much data as they could across the 56k lines that were prevelant then

don't get me wrong, I think it's still just an excuse right now, but there is a grain of truth to it
SilverSurfer

join:2007-08-19

Re: strange

said by Tikker_LoS See Profile :

don't get me wrong, I think it's still just an excuse right now, but there is a grain of truth to it
Yes, in the same way there is a grain of truth in stating that exterminating the Jews aided the "innovation" of a master race.

MattE
Obama '08
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
·Corporate Colocation

Re: strange

said by SilverSurfer See Profile :

said by Tikker_LoS See Profile :

don't get me wrong, I think it's still just an excuse right now, but there is a grain of truth to it
Yes, in the same way there is a grain of truth in stating that exterminating the Jews aided the "innovation" of a master race.
Did you just compare the holocaust to your f'ing internet connection being throttled?
SilverSurfer

join:2007-08-19

Re: strange

said by MattE See Profile :

Did you just compare the holocaust to your f'ing internet connection being throttled?
Did you just ask me if you know how to read?

apeface

join:2000-09-16
Mckinney, TX

Re: strange

Godwin violation.
jerseyjoe123

join:2008-04-28
Picton, ON

Bell's Traffic Management

"Several parties have claimed that traffic management will hinder innovation. The Commission should see these claims for what they really are: the use of policy rhetoric devoid of substance in order to promote vested business interests."

Whereas, Bell is claiming that traffic management will promote innovation. The Commission should see these claims for what they really are: the use of policy rhetoric devoid of substance in order to promote vested business interests.

Yeah, right...
Rastan

join:2007-04-25
Canada

Bell is Run by Liars

This is yet another example of how Bell does business. Instead of being open and honest, they prefer to spin the facts and lie.

adisor19

join:2004-10-11
·Radioactif
·Videotron
·Look Communications

Re: Bell is Run by Liars

said by Rastan See Profile :

This is yet another example of how Bell does business. Instead of being open and honest, they prefer to spin the facts and lie.
Hmm, where did i hear that again ?! Oh YEAH, i believe it was Comcrap in the states claiming something similar. It went along the lines of : Throttling is good for the consumer.

Adi

TK Junk Mail
Go ahead, make my day
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Margate City, NJ
clubs:
·Comcast

Re: Bell is Run by Liars

said by adisor19 See Profile :

It went along the lines of : Throttling is good for the consumer.
It is good for MOST consumers. Just not those who want to steal music & movies.
Ikarasu

join:2004-01-09
Port Coquitlam, BC

Re: Bell is Run by Liars

A lot of new games are starting to use Bittorrent for content patches, not just WoW. Throttling isn't good for the consumer, it's good for the provider.

adisor19

join:2004-10-11
·Radioactif
·Videotron
·Look Communications

said by TK Junk Mail See Profile :

said by adisor19 See Profile :

It went along the lines of : Throttling is good for the consumer.
It is good for MOST consumers. Just not those who want to steal music & movies.
Wow, you just keep on trollin, don't you ? You just always seem to forget about those Linux distribution guys or all those other Video stores like Zudeo that depend on P2P to deliver their products. Ya, i'm sure it's not BAD for them at all... it helps them innovate, right ? rrrrrrright

Adi
hottboiinnc
Kyle

join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
·buckeye cable

Re: Bell is Run by Liars

Adi-

You need to have your government teach you how to read. He did NOT say anything about video games or anything else you always try and claim. The rest of you in Canada need to ask the same thing of the Government as well as many of you from the States. Go tell Bush you want your coupon to go to a private school.

TK said STEAL MUSIC and MOVIES NOT PATCH VIDEO GAMES!

LEARN HOW TO FU*KING READ!

At_hotmoron

@miami.edu


thumbs down from:
TK Junk Mail See Profile

Re: Bell is Run by Liars

said by hottboiinnc See Profile :

Adi-

You need to have your government teach you how to read.

LEARN HOW TO FU*KING READ!
Says the moron using "boii" as part of his forum name. That alone reeks of credibility on any intelligent thread you comment on. Almost everyone that's been participating on these boards for any length of time has seen that TK FUD CAMPAIGN (read TK Junk Mail) is a 'retired' corporate puppet/apologist/shill/troll. Most people on dslreports have seen enough of TK to know that most posts like his previous ones are trolling fishing expeditions filled with pro-corporate rhetoric. In TK FUD CAMPAIGN's world everyone that uses their connection to the fullest, even when it's for legal traffic within the isp ToS, is a "music and movie downloading thief."
hottboiinnc
Kyle

join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
·buckeye cable

Re: Bell is Run by Liars

again you should learn how to read. My name does not spell BOII...it states: hott boi in nc but you would know that if you could read and understand how to seperate words.

But i have been on here for some time now. but you know you people who decide to hide who you are by posting annoy. are considered a bunch of trolls and shills yourself so you yourself have no room to call anyone else a troll or shill. At least he doesnt hide that he has money invested in the companies.

Maybe Miami should teach you how to read.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest

said by hottboiinnc See Profile :

You need to have your government teach you how to read.
And you need to learn how to read the issue before opening your mouth and sticking your foot in it. Bell's throttling throttles not only ALL P2P (legit or not) but it's also hitting other data from third party, independent ISP's as well.
LEARN HOW TO FU*KING READ!
Indeed! Take your own advice! It's hard to make a valid point when you've got your foot stuffed in your mouth all the time.....
--
"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!)
hottboiinnc
Kyle

join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
·buckeye cable

Re: Bell is Run by Liars

I know how to read and i did read it. Legal or not. He did not state weather the data was legal or not. He said MUSIC AND MOVIES! show me a company that provides their music and movies via p2p or BT?

You can't. Their all provided over HTTP and using their own programs. Not your every day run of the mill Limewire program.

drjp81

join:2006-01-09
Longueuil, QC

Re: Bell is Run by Liars

Tell me you are kidding. You have to be a joke, I've never read so much nonsense in here.

Troll indeed. Take your meds, "boii"
--
Cheers!
hottboiinnc
Kyle

join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH

Re: Bell is Run by Liars

you need to learn to read. My name is not BOII it actually reads out : hott boi in nc .

but no i'm not kidding and i'm not a troll. I simply am stating a fact of what was said, the facts you people on here fail to read.

drjp81

join:2006-01-09
Longueuil, QC
·TekSavvy Solutions..

Re: Bell is Run by Liars

Listen boii,

Since when is there a word such as BOI or BOII in the english language, in any case? Before you tell people to learn to read, perhaps *you* should learn to write.

The impetus in the written language, is for the person that writes to make himself clearly understood.

As for me, done feeding the troll. Yes you are.
--
Cheers!

beatsnpieces

join:2007-12-17

said by adisor19 See Profile :

said by TK Junk Mail See Profile :

all those other Video stores like Zudeo that depend on P2P to deliver their products.

That's not innovation, it's cost cutting. Zudeo could rent or buy a high-bandwidth, high-capacity HTTP server to host their files that would also provide faster, more consistent speeds. Instead they use p2p and force the ISPs of their customers to shoulder the load and cost of all that bandwidth. As a regular p2p user I don't much like throttling but I fully understand the reasons for doing it and don't have the audacity to bitch about it. As much as people around here may protest the simple fact is that the vast majority of p2p is piracy, and those legit p2p sources are just cutting corners.

Bell has every right to throttle Sympatico customers, but someone really needs to be shot over their arrogance in assuming they can get away with throttling wholesalers. If my landlord tried to tell me I could only have certain friends at my apartment and then only at specific times of the day, I would tell him to go f**k himself, which is basically what Bell is doing here. As long as these ISPs are paying their rent it should be illegal for Bell to interfere in any way.
karlmarx

join:2006-09-18
Nashua, NH
·Fairpoint Communic..

But we also use it to steal a lot of other stuff. TV shows, software, anime, books. pictures, games.. Hmm.. pretty much everything that's digital. Yep, that's the only use for bittorrent, to steal from the rich and give to the people.

Most consumers haven't LEARNED about torrents, that's the problem. Once someone comes up with a very simple easy to use method to download all that stuff, using P2P, say, a set top box that can grab all your tv shows for free, THEN it will really take off.

That's what's called 'progress'. It's a scary word for right wing nut cases, but society marches on, and leaves the old farts to yell at kids to 'keep of my damn lawn'!
--
The happiest countries are the most secular. The struggle AGAINST corporations is the struggle FOR humanity!
EPS

join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA

Re: Bell is Run by Liars

You're missing the obvious problem with your dream world- which is that once content providers stop getting money for their content, then the content stops getting produced.

IronMike

@teksavvy.com

Re: Bell is Run by Liars

said by EPS See Profile :

You're missing the obvious problem with your dream world- which is that once content providers stop getting money for their content, then the content stops getting produced.
I'm not sure that's a bad thing, in many cases.

braynes
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Waterville, ME
How do you come to know so much about stealing music and movies?
Bruce

Froggy

@teksavvy.com

thumbs down from:
TK Junk Mail See Profile

You'd be singing a different tune if you had to live in Canada. Probably be begging for change to buy overpriced beer and crying day and night about how bad the internet service is in Canada.

DJ MASACRE

@accelio.com


thumbs down from:
TK Junk Mail See Profile

said by TK Junk Mail See Profile :

said by adisor19 See Profile :

It went along the lines of : Throttling is good for the consumer.
It is good for MOST consumers. Just not those who want to steal music & movies.
It is good for nobody, you have the wrong message in your head about the whole thing.

zachary1
you talkin' to me?

join:2004-03-07
right here
Oh please. What about Netflix downloads?

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
TK this is wholesale throttling of all data in transit including third parties ISP's. In a way, even efforts to throttle here in the US pale by comparison. This isn't good for any user; it's purely an anti-competitive move.
patcat88

join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

Re: Bell is Run by Liars

said by KrK See Profile :

TK this is wholesale throttling of all data in transit including third parties ISP's. In a way, even efforts to throttle here in the US pale by comparison. This isn't good for any user; it's purely an anti-competitive move.
But wholesale DSL in Canada is totally different from the USA. In the USA, all wholesale DSL is implimented by 3rd party CLEC DSLAMs. Canada's system of "Ma Bell will deliver to you a gigabit fiber connector with all of your customer's traffic, regardless of where the customers are, to where ever in Canada your datacenter is", which means the telco must backhaul traffic from BC to Quebec for no additional cost if the competitor ISP demands so.
brad

join:2007-09-06
Etobicoke, ON

Re: Bell is Run by Liars

said by patcat88 See Profile :

But wholesale DSL in Canada is totally different from the USA. In the USA, all wholesale DSL is implimented by 3rd party CLEC DSLAMs. Canada's system of "Ma Bell will deliver to you a gigabit fiber connector with all of your customer's traffic, regardless of where the customers are, to where ever in Canada your datacenter is", which means the telco must backhaul traffic from BC to Quebec for no additional cost if the competitor ISP demands so.
The company or ISP paying for that connection is NOT no additional cost.

jubangy
Premium
join:2005-03-26
Erie, PA
·DSL EXTREME

That is bullshit! While there are people who do that, there are alot of legit services now a days that use alot of bandwidth to.
I suppose watching streaming movies from netflix is stealing? Funny didnt seem that way when I PAID my bill! What about the satellite companies that are startingto offer movie downloads? I suppose th emonthly bill is what restitution?
Get a clue.
kcblack
Premium
join:2000-09-11
Chicago, IL

Pot, kettle...lol

Pot, meet Kettle, Kettle meet Pot

Speaking of Pot, that must be what they are smoking to come up with this.

"We had to destroy the village, to save the village"...

Kevin

adisor19

join:2004-10-11
·Radioactif
·Videotron
·Look Communications

Re: Pot, kettle...lol

said by kcblack See Profile :

Pot, meet Kettle, Kettle meet Pot

Speaking of Pot, that must be what they are smoking to come up with this.

"We had to destroy the village, to save the village"...

Kevin
That sounds like some religious right wing talk !! Are you implying Bell inspired themselves from that ?

Adi
Selenia

join:2006-09-22
Pittsfield, MA
·RoadRunner Cable

Helping us innovate ways to beat them lol

Bell said

"Indeed, the opposite of these claims is clearly the case; necessity is the mother of invention."

I see your point. ISPs started getting cheap and cutting off torrents, so we invented torrent clients with encryption and a few other things. Maybe soon we'll use p2p clients that resemble short term ssl connections during actual transfers. Maybe someday we'll invent a way to automatically revoke the internet privileges of such fools via the push of a red button, which will promote innovation greatly, once we have invented it because of such idiots and douche bags as the CEOs of Bell Canada and Rogers(I am originally from Canada and have dealt with both companies).
mobbo

join:2005-04-13
Denton, TX

WTF...

"the use of policy rhetoric devoid of substance in order to promote vested business interests."

OH NO I'VE GONE CROSS-EYED!!!

jcan




from:
TK Junk Mail See Profile

Innovation stifled?

Can anyone give me some concrete examples of how innovation is being stifled by the throttling of P2P traffic? I would like to understand the reason for all the passionate arguments surrounding this.

Personally, I am throttled (have used BitTorrent and Limewire to test), but don't seem to be impacted at all. My Internet TV, VPN and downloading all work fine, even in the evening.

Thanks for input!

CarterStClai
X-Out The W

join:2002-04-17
Sugar Land, TX

Re: Innovation stifled?

Clearly you don't *use* P2P, so stay out of it.
Selenia

join:2006-09-22
Pittsfield, MA
·RoadRunner Cable


edit:
July 14th, @11:31AM

p2p, including Bit Torrent has been a very big aid to innovation in recent years. Think of those multi-gig Linux isos and open source programs that are distributed for free, with plenty of devoted seeders. Some of this content is mostly distributed over BT, conserving massive resources on their servers, as they probably lack the funding that Micro$haft and Apple can spend on their servers. The open source programs and OS distributions provide competition in areas where otherwise a monopoly or a duopoly would exist. This promotes innovation. In Canada, competition can be short and Bell is about as much innovation as you'll be stuck with, if you don't have enough competition.

PS-Even if you don't like Linux(or other open source OSes), you have to agree that it has forced some innovation In more commercial OSes. The same is just as true for certain types of programs.

Tenar

join:2008-01-02
Midland, ON

It's been stated before but the CBC (public broadcaster) in Canada tried offering a program called "Canada's next great prime minister" as a download via bit torrent.

It was an experiment to see if BitTorrent was a viable way to offer public TV to the Public. However, so many people were throttled and cbc received complaints of 11 hour downloads. They might not offer any more shows via BitTorrent.

There is your throttled innovation!
james1

join:2001-02-26
antarctica

Innovation

I suppose throttling really does aid innovation, but only in the area of bypassing said throttling.

See 7 replies to this post

MarkAW
Call me lil bratt
Premium
join:2001-08-27
Canada
·Bell Sympatico


edit:
July 14th, @01:17PM

Vested business interests then why the OTPP buy out.

quote:
Several parties have claimed that traffic management will hinder innovation. The Commission should see these claims for what they really are: the use of policy rhetoric devoid of substance in order to promote vested business interests.

So i guess the $35 Billion Bell buy out by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan that is expected to be completed by mid-December has nothing to do with this quoted statement.

»www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co···chnology
--
Advertising is legalized lying. - H.G. Wells
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. - Aristotle

Bellundo

@teksavvy.com

Re: Vested business interests then why the OTPP buy out.

There won't be any takers for bell's debt (the banks will float the debt and end of statement) so the deal will fall apart. That's why the terms were changed from the teachers being on the hook now for a billion two instead of a billion. The teachers are learning but learning an expensive lesson about the real world. BCE's share price will continue to fall between now and December.

maartena
Obama 2008

join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

The Bottom Line:

The top 5% users of traffic - which is the TARGET of throttling - will have found a workaround within weeks, if not days after a new system was installed. The latest rounds of multi-million dollar investments in throttling equipment could easily be worked around by setting your torrent client to the skype port, or the port that VOIP providers use such as Vonage.

(The logic here of course is that if they interfere with VOIP traffic, they will get sued by the VOIP companies for deliberately interfering with their service, and since most ISP's sell phone service themselves, that can be seen as deliberately interfering with other businesses in order to sell your own services.)

The next step up is packet-based throttling, where even more expensive equipment actually recognizes whether a packet is torrent or VOIP, and throttle it according to those parameters.

And the top 5% torrent users already have a solution, as several torrent clients already support encrypted packets with encrypted headers. And blocking encryption is a whole different ballgame.

Other solutions are to mimic packets as simple web (port 80) packets.....

The Bottom Line is that no matter how hard you try and block or throttle traffic, a workaround will be found before the bill of all that equipment is actually paid by accounts payable of said ISP.
--
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -
Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father.

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ
clubs:
·Verizon Online DSL

Re: The Bottom Line:

said by maartena See Profile :

The Bottom Line is that no matter how hard you try and block or throttle traffic, a workaround will be found before the bill of all that equipment is actually paid by accounts payable of said ISP.
The bottom line is use all you want and pay for what you use like electricity. It is going to happen no work around that.

Froggy

@teksavvy.com

Throttling Aids Innovation

If everybody thought like bell we'd still be living in the caveman era.

Barcelona



Re: Throttling Aids Innovation

I don't have much sympathy for people who are crying about the throttling. After all, 95 percent of the bandwidth is used by, what, 5 percent of the users.

Throttling is a lot fairer way to apportion the bandwidth.

It would be nice if Bell would invest the money to increase total bandwidth, but until they do, we should live with the throttling.

Heck, I download 2 or 3 tv programs or movies each week and have no problem with the throttling. I don't have to have the thing downloaded in the next hour, it's no problem if it takes overnight. Why should these other guys have a problem?
MIghtyCicero

join:2008-04-19