Canadian Regulators Say Bell Canada's DSL Throttling Is Fine

from the sorta-misses-the-point,-though dept

Earlier this year, you may recall that Bell Canada started traffic shaping its DSL even at the wholesale level -- and did so without bothering to tell any of its resellers. That meant that various resellers of Bell Canada, which had promised customers an open network, were suddenly lying, without even knowing it. These reseller ISPs protested, and Bell Canada responded by telling them to shut up and deal with it. The other ISPs protested to Canadian regulators who have now sided with Bell Canada, claiming that the traffic shaping is not discriminatory, because it impacts all reseller ISPs the same way. Of course, that's not the type of discrimination the ISPs were complaining about...

The whole thing does seem quite questionable, as Bell Canada effectively changed the terms by which it provided service to its reseller ISPs, without any notification, let alone negotiation. Yet, because Bell Canada is effectively a monopoly as a provider of DSL, the ISPs have no competitive options to which they can turn. It sounds like the regulators could be convinced to examine other aspects of Bell Canada's traffic shaping plans, but for now, it's given the go-ahead on having them force all resellers to provide traffic-shaped DSL, even if they had promised not to traffic shape.

Filed Under: canada, dsl, regulation, throttling
Companies: bell canada

Is Bell Canada Going To Purposely Screw Up GPS Signals To Harm Competitors?

from the get-lost dept

It's good to have market power, apparently. Remember how Bell Canada started throttle bandwidth to its reseller partners without telling them? And then told them to shut up and take it when they complained? Oh, right, and then tried launching its own video download store just as it was making it more difficult for anyone else's to work? Apparently, the company may be doing that again... Michael Geist points us to reports that Bell Canada is looking to purposely degrade the GPS signal on certain Blackberrys for anyone using third party mapping programs, such as Google's. However (wouldn't you know it?), Bell is promising to allow the GPS to work properly if you pay the company $10/month and use Bell's own mapping solution.

Filed Under: canada, competition, gps, monopoly power
Companies: bell canada

Bell Canada Launches Crappy Download Video Store Just As It Gets Scrutiny Over Traffic Shaping

from the odd-timing dept

Bell Canada is having something of an odd week. It's finally coming under regulatory scrutiny for its traffic shaping efforts -- and also ran into unexpected problems in its attempt to go private. So why would it choose this time to launch a dreadful new video download store that is pretty much guaranteed not to get any use in the first place? The system seems to have all the worst features of the various movie download sites that have failed so miserably in years past: extremely limited selection, annoying and buggy Microsoft DRM and high prices. Fantastic deal, right? But, even more bizarre is the very concept of launching a movie download site at the very same time you're claiming that the old internet tubes are getting way too clogged, requiring those traffic shaping efforts. If it's such a problem, why would Bell Canada then contribute to the clogging in that way? Maybe they think they need the additional traffic to "prove" why traffic shaping is necessary. Of course, since the service won't get much use, that plan probably won't get very far.

Filed Under: canada, drm, traffic shaping, video downloads
Companies: bell canada

Canadian Regulators Won't Stop Bell Canada's Traffic Shaping

from the shape-away dept

Back in March, Bell Canada started traffic shaping the internet traffic that passed over its network without telling its reseller partners. This was a pretty big deal, as many of the ISPs who resell Bell Canada DSL promise to their customers that they don't do any kind of traffic shaping. Those resellers complained to Bell Canada, who responded by saying too bad, recognizing that those resellers had nowhere else to go. Some of the reseller ISPs complained to Canadian regulators who have now sided with Bell Canada, allowing the company to keep on traffic shaping. The regulators basically said that the ISPs have been unable to show how they're being harmed by this move, which is required for them to step in. One would think that a boatload of customer complaints and threats to move to any other internet connectivity (not that there are many choices) would be enough to show harm to the ISPs. Once again, it's nice to have near total control over your market, isn't it? Update Some good details provided in the comments. The matter is still being investigated by regulators. This ruling was just about interim relief.

Filed Under: canada, regulations, traffic shaping
Companies: bell canada

Is Bell Canada Violating Privacy With Its Traffic Shaping Efforts?

from the another-way-to-look-at-it dept

We've seen all sorts of arguments against ISPs who engage in traffic shaping, but now some are trying to make a privacy argument against traffic shaping as well. A few months ago, the news came out that Bell Canada was engaging in traffic shaping, even for its wholesale ISP partners who promised customers open internet access. As a couple folks have submitted today, the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic at the University of Ottawa is claiming that in addition to other questions raised about this, traffic shaping may be a privacy violation, in that it uses deep packet inspection to determine what type of packets are being sent to figure out what to traffic shape. Bell Canada responds that it is only determining what type of packet it is, rather than what's in it -- but even that information could potentially be a privacy violation. While it seems unlikely that this argument will stick, if traffic shaping starts being seen as a privacy issue, it could put even more pressure on ISPs to stop doing it (and may encourage more users to encrypt their traffic).

Filed Under: canada, privacy, traffic shaping
Companies: bell canada

It's Good To Be A Monopoly: Bell Canada Tells ISPs To Shut Up And Accept Traffic Shaping

from the what-are-you-gonna-do? dept

Remember how Bell Canada had decided to start traffic shaping without telling any of its ISP resellers? Well, in a meeting with those resellers, the company both admitted it and told them there was nothing they could do about it, even if it meant that those ISPs were violating their own terms of service and promises to customers. It's good to be a monopoly, you see. Since those ISPs have nowhere else to go, Bell Canada is able to do whatever it wants to the network, and if those ISPs don't like it, they're pretty much out of luck.

Filed Under: canada, telcos, traffic shaping
Companies: bell canada

Bell Canada Decides To Throttle Traffic Without Telling Resellers

from the no-neutrality-for-you! dept

While it's increasingly rare to find DSL service not directly sold by the telco (thanks to the FCC killing line sharing rules, of course), in other countries, it's much more common. This creates competition on the network and gives the various retail sellers a chance to differentiate themselves. Up in Canada, it appears that Bell Canada has decided to start implementing traffic shaping features without letting its resellers know. That means that customers are discovering that their traffic is being impeded at times and their own ISP has no clue about it. And it's blocking perfectly legitimate activities. In fact, one person points out that he's having trouble downloading the show that the CBC is purposely offering on BitTorrent. This seems especially ridiculous, as Bell Canada is dealing with a small number of resellers and should be able to price its network in a manner that takes into account usage -- allowing the resellers to handle how they reprice and resell the service. But by unilaterally deciding to shape the traffic without even telling its ISP partners, it gets users pissed off at their own ISPs for something that has nothing to do with them. Then again, perhaps that's the idea.

Filed Under: canada, line sharing, resellers, traffic shaping, wholesaling
Companies: bell canada

Perhaps Up North 'Unlimited' Means Something Different Than It Does Here

from the haven't-we-been-through-this-before dept

There's absolutely nothing wrong with a connectivity provider limiting how people use their connectivity -- as long as it's clearly laid out in how they pitch the service. Unfortunately, too many of these services advertise "unlimited" service, but mean the exact opposite. In the US, Verizon Wireless used to do this. When confronted on it, they tried to doubletalk their way around the issue, claiming that it was "unlimited data for limited types of data" (read that phrase a few times). However, eventually, Verizon Wireless realized how ridiculous this was and started to back off the claims of unlimited data. Unfortunately, that sort of thinking hasn't reached the folks at Bell Canada, who are apparently advertising an unlimited service, while hiding an awful lot of "limits" within the terms of service. Again, there's nothing wrong with them deciding they need to limit the service -- but if they're going to do so, they shouldn't be advertising it as unlimited. It's amazing that no one's been charged with false advertising for these types of misleading ads.

Filed Under: limited, unlimited
Companies: bell canada