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Comcast moves to slow service to heaviest Internet users

By Todd Shields, Bloomberg News

Published August 24, 2008 at 9:05 p.m.

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Comcast Corp. plans to slow Internet service to its heaviest users during periods of congestion, after regulators ordered the company to devise a new method for managing its Web traffic.

The top Internet speeds for targeted customers will be reduced for periods lasting 10 minutes to 20 minutes, keeping service to other users flowing, Mitch Bowling, Comcast's senior vice president and general manager of online services, said.

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

In an order posted on its Web site, the FCC gave the Philadelphia-based company 30 days to provide details of its "unreasonable network management practices" and show how they would be changed by year-end.

"We're going to really have to see all the detail and have all the information," Marvin Ammori, general counsel for the nonprofit group Free Press, said.

Free Press, which promotes universal access to communications, and another organization, Public Knowledge, filed the complaint that resulted in the FCC censure.

The new system will move away from a focus on specific applications that hog Web traffic, Bowling said. Comcast will determine "in nearly real time" whether congestion is caused by a heavy user, he said.

"If in fact a person is generating enough packets that they're the ones creating that situation, we will manage that consumer for the overall good of all of our consumers," Bowling said.

Managing Traffic Comcast reported 14.4 million Internet users at the end of the second quarter. The shares have gained 17 percent this year.

Free Press and Public Knowledge told the FCC that Comcast "is secretly degrading innovative protocols used for transporting and sharing large files, like high-quality television programming and movies."

The FCC acted "to protect consumers' access to the Internet," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin sais.

Comments

  • August 25, 2008

    5:19 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    anya writes:

    They make it sound so reasonable, and such a good idea, but I believe that comcast will make everything worse in some way. I have never seen them do anything right yet. They have, bar none, the WORST customer service of any company that I have ever seen.

  • November 4, 2008

    3:42 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Ronn writes:

    I have been a Comcast internet customer for 6 years and cable customer since way back. In regards to their service we have had problems with their internet service for over 2 mos. We have had to call them weekly during that time, and also reset our modem or they reset it over the phone at least 3 times each week. Finally on the last service call they replaced their cable on the outside of the house and that appears to have fixed the problem. Yesterday we received their monthly statement with 54.00 in service calls. The cable was their problem and if they had replaced it 2 months ago we both would have had a lot less issues, but they didn't and charged me on top of it. They refuse to do anything about it unless I agree to a service contract over the phone that I have no idea what it involves. They would rather lose a (about 20 yr) customer than do the right thing.