24 Aug 2009
Dutch broadband provider UPC is to introduce a new system in which its customers will pay more to access certain services and providers.
Critics have argued that the move could signal the end of net neutrality, unless it is contested by consumer groups or banned under the European Telecoms Reform package that entered the European Union conciliation procedure in May and will have its third reading this autumn.
UPC claims that the system, which will run from noon to midnight and will cut users' bandwidth by two thirds when accessing bandwidth-intensive services, will enable it to solve network problems and provide customers with faster access.
Under the proposals all protocols but HTTP will be capped to a third in peak times, and even some web sites that do use HTTP will be restricted if they take up too much bandwidth.
"Some recent changes in our network management settings have led to customer questions," said a UPC spokeswoman.
"[It is] important to know here that the changes are part of our continuous improvement of the network settings, and are not finalised as was assumed [in some press reports]."
She added that the changes would be finalised in the "coming weeks".
"We want to prevent the excessive internet usage by a very low number of customers - approximately one per cent - causing congestion for the other 99 per cent," the spokeswoman said.
Citizens rights groups such as La Quadrature du Net, meanwhile, have registered their concerns over the UPC plans.
"This is clearly harmful to the neutrality of the network. It shows bad network management. Legitimate networks divide all bandwidth among all users and, if the network is too small, they should invest in more bandwidth," said Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net.
"This case determines the future of users' access to the internet. I expect there to be resistance from users and for some to leave the ISP."
However, Zimmermann said that the real danger is if other Dutch ISPs follow UPC's example. Consumers in the country would not be given a choice, and would have access only to a "sub internet" in which ISPs could favour partner web sites over competitors'.
The question of whether broadband operators should be allowed to restrict access to services and applications at their discretion has been a subject of hot debate between the European Parliament and Council this year.
During a vote in May on new European telecoms legislation, the Parliament refused for the second time to sanction any restrictions on net neutrality.
The Council and Parliament are currently trying to reach a compromise, and have scheduled a meeting to discuss the issue on 29 September.
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Do you agree?
Fair usage
Well all true but one thing is missing. Most of the people that are heavy for internet have very fast connections and pay about 3 times more for internet than majority of users. Why the hell they wanna cut speeds when they already know that when somebody pays for 50Mb line they gonna use it. So i don't understand whole problem, if they are not prepped to deliver services like the ones they advertise i guess it's time to go back to the drawing board or start selling doughnuts.
Posted by: Marek 23 Jan 2010
Complete garbage!
Got to love their backwards logic..: "We want to prevent the excessive internet usage by a very low number of customers - approximately one per cent - causing congestion for the other 99 per cent," ---OK, so their solution to this bandwidth apocalypse caused by only "one per cent" of their customer base??? CAP bandwidth to 1/3 capacity for ALL USERS. Why take such extreme and damaging measures when the obvious short term answer is to DISCONNECT and/or warn the "one per cent" of users for excessive use?? They are allowed to do this under the acceptable usage policy and they know it. That would effectively solve this "one per cent" issue- Of course, the long term solution is take some of those enourmous profits these telecommunications companies make and actually put a little into network infrastructure. Why are they going to make all their customers suffer for this supposed "one per cent" by making everyone RATION their internet use. It appears they are attempting to get their foot in the door of network neutrality by artificially limiting bandwidth. The result of course is both customers and content providers will end up paying twice (or more) for sub standard internet service.
Posted by: uks 04 Oct 2009
as bad as digitalbritain...
there is no shortage on the internet. the bottlenecks are in obsolete infrastructure. In the UK the exchanges can't cope with demand. So our ISPs are being told by govt to cut off filesharers. Similar to throttling as described above. Backwards thinking! It is far more sensible to light the fibre, roll out fibre to the home and sort it out now. No point in limiting people to a drip out of a tap when there is a whole ocean of knowledge and engagement out there... very short sighted - imho.
Posted by: cyberdoyle 26 Aug 2009
Metered Usage?
Rather than enforcing reduced bandwidth of "heavy use" customers perhaps these customers should be placed on a PAYG (Pay as you go) metered use scheme. This would encourage self management. By increasing revenue from the heavier users the ISP can reinvest in increased bandwidth.
Posted by: mattf 25 Aug 2009