Those of you who have Comcast as an ISP will find this very
interesting.

And if they are doing it, it is likely other ISPs are too.

TMT


Comcast admits delaying some traffic By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology
Writer

Comcast Corp. on Tuesday acknowledged "delaying" some subscriber
Internet traffic, but said any roadblocks it puts up are temporary and
intended to improve surfing for other users.

The statement was a response to an Associated Press report last week
that detailed how the nation's largest cable company was interfering
with file sharing by some of its Internet subscribers. The AP also
found that Comcast's computers masqueraded as those of its users to
interrupt file-sharing connections.

Internet watchdog groups denounced Comcast's actions, calling it an
example of the kind of abuse that could be curbed with so-called "Net
Neutrality" legislation. It would require Internet providers to treat
all traffic equally - as has largely been the case historically.

Comcast has repeatedly denied blocking any Internet application,
including "peer-to-peer" file-sharing programs like BitTorrent, which
the AP used in its nationwide tests.

On Tuesday, Mitch Bowling, senior vice president of Comcast Online
Services, added a nuance to that statement, saying that while Comcast
may block initial connection attempts between two computers, it
eventually lets the traffic through if the computers keep trying.

"During periods of heavy peer-to-peer congestion, which can degrade
the experience for all customers, we use several network management
technologies that, when necessary, enable us to delay - not block -
some peer-to-peer traffic. However, the peer-to-peer transaction will
eventually be completed as requested," Bowling said.

The explanation is not inconsistent with the AP's tests. In one case,
a BitTorrent file transfer was squelched, apparently by messages
generated by Comcast, only to start 10 minutes later. Other tests were
called off after around 5 minutes, while the transfers were still
stifled.

Comcast's statement did not mollify Markham Erickson, executive
director of the Washington, D.C.-based Open Internet Coalition, a
group that counts Google Inc. and eBay Inc. among its supporters.

"What applications work, what don't, and at what speeds? Only Comcast
really knows," he said. "Comcast is making arbitrary bandwidth
allocation decisions slowing use of basic (programs) without being
clear to consumers what they really get when they buy a broadband
connection."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation confirmed the AP's findings with
its own tests - including spotting forged messages sent by Comcast's
computers to shut down connections.

While BitTorrent connections may eventually resume after being shut
down by Comcast, other file-sharing programs like Gnutella may be more
severely affected by the interference, preventing any kind of upload,
said Peter Eckersley, staff technologist at the online civil liberties
group.

"Characterizing that as delaying traffic I think is ... a stretch.
What they are doing is spoofing traffic or jamming traffic," Eckersley
said.

"I think they are trying to create as much confusion about this story
as they can because they've done something really scurrilous and out
of line for an ISP, and I'm sure they've been burned by the
community's reaction to it," he added.

Applications like BitTorrent and Gnutella are often used to illegally
share copyrighted files, giving the applications themselves an image
of shadiness. Recently, however, several companies have started using
BitTorrent to distribute legal files.

However, users also reported Comcast blocking some transfers of e-
mails with large attachments through an application that is fully in
the legal sphe Lotus Notes, an IBM Corp. program used in corporate
settings.

Kevin Kanarski, a network engineer for a major law firm, noticed the
disruption in August and eventually traced the problem to Comcast. But
he got the cold shoulder from the company's customer support
department.

On Tuesday, Bowling acknowledged the problem, saying it was
unintentional and due to a software bug that has been fixed. Kanarski
said transfers started working again last week.

"These are the kinds of software bugs you get when you have ISPs
messing around with hacking techniques to get some applications
running on their networks and not others," said EFF's Eckersley, who
is himself a Comcast subscriber.

"The bottom line is that if ISPs start regularly engaging in conduct
like this, then kids in their dorm rooms or small startup companies
that are trying to develop innovative new uses of the Internet are
going to have to come and get permission from players like Comcast to
get their protocols working properly," Eckersley said. "That kind of
veto over innovation would be very bad news."

___

On the Net:

http://www.comcast.com

http://www.eff.org

"Too_Many_Tools" wrote:
Those of you who have Comcast as an ISP will find this very
interesting.

And if they are doing it, it is likely other ISPs are too.

TMT
[snip article]

They have also, in the last week or two, curtailed the ability to "hotlink"
to images on a comcast webpage. What happens is, when you hotlink to one of
your images (like on a webforum), you will get a "red X" box instead of the
picture.

The only workaround is to manually right click the image and select "show
picture," which 99% of the time people just ain't gonna do for a small
picture.

I'm paying fifty bucks a month and getting this crap from them - it's
obscene. There needs to be competition for cable internet, at least in
this area.

Comcast - more like ComCRAP.

Jon

"Jon Danniken" wrote in
:
snip

I'm paying fifty bucks a month and getting this crap from them - it's
obscene. There needs to be competition for cable internet, at least
in this area.

Comcast - more like ComCRAP.

Jon


In my area it would be competing with itself. Comcast has the cable
monopoly here. I dropped them a couple of years ago when we got 3 rate
increases in one year. I've had DirectTV since then and have never looked
back

Bill

I have a Comcast business account, with 10 megabits in, and about 1
megabit out. I am using bittorrent a lot and have not seen these
effects, though I completely believe the stories. (they seem to not do
it to the business accounts).

I am hoping that one day, FIOS service with 20/20 megabits will become
available and I will switch to that.

i

On Oct 24, 1:48 pm, Ignoramus22168 ignoramus22...@NOSPAM.
22168.invalid wrote:
I have a Comcast business account, with 10 megabits in, and about 1
megabit out. I am using bittorrent a lot and have not seen these
effects, though I completely believe the stories. (they seem to not do
it to the business accounts).

I am hoping that one day, FIOS service with 20/20 megabits will become
available and I will switch to that.

i

They are doing it because demand is outstripping capacity...and they
don't want to spend real money that would affect management bonuses.

Cable is also LONG OVERDUE for competition.

I have been watching the fight between the phone company and
cable ....damn entertaining...DSL has been the first real threat to
cable's strangle hold over high speed Internet. As more and more sites
require high speed (have you tired Ebay lately?), I expect businesses
that depend on customers to interact via the Net to go after the cable
folks. I can't wait for the rock throwing to start.

Meanwhile don't look for it to change until we get the pro business
f*ck the consumer Administration out of the White House.

TMT

I wonder how they would react if their customers started paying them
"up to" the billed amount (depending on actual connection speed received),
and delaying payment to improve cash flow to other utilities?

Art


"Too_Many_Tools" wrote in message
oups.com...
Those of you who have Comcast as an ISP will find this very
interesting.

And if they are doing it, it is likely other ISPs are too.

TMT


Comcast admits delaying some traffic By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology
Writer

Comcast Corp. on Tuesday acknowledged "delaying" some subscriber
Internet traffic, but said any roadblocks it puts up are temporary and
intended to improve surfing for other users.

On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:22:01 -0700, "Artemus"
wrote:

I wonder how they would react if their customers started paying them
"up to" the billed amount (depending on actual connection speed received),
and delaying payment to improve cash flow to other utilities?

Art
=============
ergo the term "Fraud" band.....


Unka' George [George McDuffee]
============
Merchants have no country.
The mere spot they stand on
does not constitute so strong an attachment
as that from which they draw their gains.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826),
U.S. president. Letter, 17 March 1814.

On Oct 24, 3:22 pm, "Artemus" wrote:
I wonder how they would react if their customers started paying them
"up to" the billed amount (depending on actual connection speed received),
and delaying payment to improve cash flow to other utilities?

Art

"Too_Many_Tools" wrote in message

oups.com...



Those of you who have Comcast as an ISP will find this very
interesting.

And if they are doing it, it is likely other ISPs are too.

TMT

Comcast admits delaying some traffic By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology
Writer

Comcast Corp. on Tuesday acknowledged "delaying" some subscriber
Internet traffic, but said any roadblocks it puts up are temporary and
intended to improve surfing for other users.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yep...that is where I see this headed.

When you sign on to a ISP, they promise a bandwidth but are not held
to providing it.

But of course you are held to a monthly payment with a committed
number of payments (multi year contracts).

What a scam....the same game cell providers play.

Time for a change...but it won't happen under a Republican.

TMT