Comcast to Slow Internet Service at Times to Its Heaviest Users

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Falcon01

Aug 21, 2008 - CDT 1:07 PM

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This may be of interest to some of you...

By BLOOMBERG NEWS
Published: August 20, 2008
The Comcast Corporation plans to slow service to its heaviest Internet users during periods of congestion after regulators ordered the company to devise a new method for managing its Web traffic.

Top Internet speeds for the heaviest users will be reduced for 10 to 20 minutes to keep service to other users flowing, said Mitch Bowling, Comcast’s senior vice president and general manager for online services.

The Federal Communications Commission found on Aug. 1 that Comcast had improperly blocked peer-to-peer programs like BitTorrent that are used to share video and other files.

In an order posted on its Web site on Wednesday, the F.C.C. gave the company 30 days to provide details of its “unreasonable network management practices” and show how they would be changed by year-end.

A heavy Comcast Web user being impeded would have Internet speeds equivalent to “a really good DSL experience,” Mr. Bowling said. DSL, or digital subscriber line, is an Internet service offered by telephone companies. After a slowdown ended, Comcast would return Internet service to normal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/technology/21comcast.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1219341697-WgZwJIGPed5hVPnodaL8EQ

Infortunately a lot of internet companies are doing this kind of thing now.

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