The IT Nerd

I’ve had a chance to read over Bell’s response to the CRTC a couple of times. My initial thoughts are plenty.

The executive version of Bell’s response is essentially that their traffic-shaping practices are in the best interest of their customers and the general public. They cite the statistic that five percent of users were using over 30% of their bandwidth and say that this means that 95% of their users were suffering from the practice of filesharing.

That quite simply is a load of hogwash. In detail, here’s why.

First, read this paragraph from their response:

26. Notwithstanding the alleged reports referred to above and the unsubstantiated “observations” contained in the CAIP Application, the Company can confirm that:

– it is only applying its Internet traffic management solution to P2P file sharing applications during peak Internet usage periods;
– it is not applying its Internet traffic management solution to streaming applications such as YouTube or Internet radio;
– it has not been presented with any evidence that its Internet traffic management solution is having any impact on VPN or VoIP traffic;
– it is applying its Internet traffic management solution to its Sympatico retail and business customer base and to its wholesale DSL customer base who share a common network in the exact same manner and to the same extent;
– it is not applying its Internet traffic management solution to wholesale HSA traffic;
– it has not introduced its Internet traffic management solution to stem the tide of Sympatico customers to its wholesale competitors in the face of ongoing changes to Sympatico Internet access rate plans;
– it remains willing to work with any customer who is experiencing Internet service problems and in particular those believed to be caused by its Internet traffic management solution; and
it has contacted its ISP customers and encouraged them to come forward with any suspected problems and remains committed to working with them.

There’s some inaccuracies in this section:

Their traffic shaping has affected VPN and VoIP traffic. Users on DSLreports.com have noted that VoIP performance has clearly degraded since the introduction of their throttling measures. The same goes for VPN traffic.

The statement is inaccurate as well:

“ it is applying its Internet traffic management solution to its Sympatico retail and business customer base and to its wholesale DSL customer base who share a common network in the exact same manner and to the same extent”

The truth is that wholesale DSL customers (that would be people who have Teksavvy and Acanac for example) were not throttled until recently (unlike Sympatico customers who have been throttled for a while now).

The final thing that jumps out at me is this: Bell pretends that the Gateway Access Service that they wholesale to ISPs is TCP/IP based from end to end. It’s not. They’re hoping that nobody notices that detail because what actually happens is that the connections from/to their users are aggregated into a single PPP/L2TP link for the entire period that it’s on Bell’s network. From a logic standpoint, there is no difference between a user with one 500KB/s connection versus a user with a THOUSAND 0.5KB/s connections. To Bell, it all appears to be simply a single 500KB/s (plus overhead) PPP stream. Which they then take and wrap L2TP around. That’s a lot of technobabble, but let me make it simpler for you. Bell is contracted by ISP’s to deliver PPP/L2TP and not TCP/IP. Bell never sees TCP/IP (which is what every Internet enabled application runs on) at all, so they shouldn’t care. What’s happening is that Bell can’t deal with the volume of data (likely because they underbuilt their network) that they’re contracted to deliver, so they’re throttling to avoid having to make a capital investment.

In short, Bell is trying to “spin” how their technology works and what they’ve done to their users and resellers to their benefit. Sneaky!

I’m sure there’s more…. Perhaps some readers will post what I’ve missed.

Here’s what happens from here:

• The Canadian Association Of Internet Providers makes a response to Bell’s BS.
• The CRTC makes a decision.

Expect the endgame to come within a week or two. Not counting appeals of course.

Bell finally responded to the CRTC and you can read their response here at the CRTC website or here via a DSLreports reader who turned their response into a PDF.

I’m reading it now and as soon as I form an opinion, I’ll let you know what it is.

You might recall that the Canadian Association Of Internet Providers filed a complaint not too long ago against Bell Canada and their idiotic throttling of ISP’s who resell Bell DSL products (and if you recall I urged you to support it). Well, the CRTC decided that there was an issue here and asked Bell to file a response. The deadline was today for that response. Well, it’s currently 7PM eastern time as I write this and there is no response from the telco. So…. Where is Bell Canada’s response? Did it get lost in the mail? Did Bell not file one? Perhaps it’s because Bell can’t justify its behavior to the CRTC?

Come on Bell, man up to this and file a response.

There is an easy way to show your support for the two submissions to the CRTC to stop Bell Canada’s throttling of their resellers. Just follow these easy steps:

1) click on the following link:
http://support.crtc.gc.ca/crtcsubmissionmu/forms/Telecom.aspx?lang=e

2) Select “Part VII/PN” from the list and click next

3) Insert the CRTC file number (# 8622-C51-200805153) into the “Subject” Line

4) Insert the following suggested text into the “Description / Comments / Questions” box: “I am writing to express my support for the Application that CAIP has filed with the CRTC regarding Bell Canada’s throttling practices. I believe that these practices contravene Bell Canada’s duties as a common carrier and that the Commission should direct Bell to immediately cease and desist from throttling the traffic of independent ISPs.” Alternatley you can come up with something more creative. Just make sure that it expresses how much you dislike Bell Canada’s tactics and you want the CRTC to do something about it. Oh yeah, KEEP IT CLEAN.

5) Click Next and Enter your name and e-mail address (you can enter the rest if you wish, but it’s not required). Click Next.

6) Ensure that everything looks fine. If it doesn’t click previous. Otherwise, click Finish.

The more people that take the time to do this, the more likely that the CRTC will show Bell Canada the error of their ways. Please do your part today.