Markey hopes to ban throttling

Author: Gareth Halfacree
Published: 14th February 2008
Comments (19) Stumble
Markey hopes to ban throttling

Markey hopes to goad the FCC into outlawing the practice of throttling heavy users' bandwidth.

Congressman Ed Markey, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, has introduced a bill which could see the end of bandwidth throttling by US ISPs almost before it starts.

The bill, currently known as the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008, calls upon the Federal Communications Commission to make a decision on whether or not throttling is beneficial or harmful for the end-user and if the FCC has the right to stop it from happening.

The act, H. R. 5353, states that “Within 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications Commission [...] shall commence a proceeding on broadband services and consumer rights,” and “As part of the proceeding [...] the Commission shall assess whether broadband network providers adhere to the Commission's Broadband Policy Statement of August, 2005 including whether, consistent with the needs of law enforcement, such providers refrain from blocking, thwarting, or unreasonably interfering with the ability of consumers to [...] access, use, send, receive, or offer lawful content, applications, or services over broadband networks, including the Internet.”

If the FCC were to be offered a mandate to defend the bandwidth of users it's unlikely that they'd come down on the side of big business. In a statement last week the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau said“that the practice of broadband service providers of degrading peer-to-peer traffic violates the FCC's Internet Policy Statement, and that such practices do not meet the Commission's exception for reasonable network management.” Where I come from, them's fighting words.

Although legislation to preserve the unfettered use of paid-for bandwidth is likely to be cheered by most, not everyone is happy. President of the CTIA Wireless Association Steve Largent has said that the bill is “an attempt to cure a problem that simply does not exist,” and that “Government intervention is not necessary.”

Any US readers want to comment on whether legislation is the way to go, or should the free market decide whether it's worth sacrificing a little bandwidth now and then to get the prices down to a mass-market point? Give us your opinions over in the forums.
Quote HourBeforeDawn 14th February 2008, 08:48
I hate bandwidth throttling, ugh I have already gotten two emails from my ISP saying I use to much bandwidth, honestly what the hell am I paying for really? I hope something goes through to stop throttling bandwidth. Then I can go back to fully using my internet for what Im paying it for.
Quote Fod 14th February 2008, 09:04
good!

now how about implementing the same legislation here instead of championing unworkable banning laws?
Quote wuyanxu 14th February 2008, 09:20
i second this notion.

bandwidth throttling is like when you have payed for a motorway (that payed one near Manchester) and once you got on, with no other cars, you are forced to drive at speed limit of 30mph.
Quote Shadow_101 14th February 2008, 09:57
i think broadband needs to be in the title :)
Quote [USRF]Obiwan 14th February 2008, 11:07
Hmmzz..

I have unlimited bandwidth for yeeeeaars already. I collect around 500GB worth of data per month. (I watch a lot of series in HD from overseas that are not available here)

Is this a typical UK thing. I mean being left behind with everything. First the 8mbit ADSL connection introduction last year ( eh... we are on 20+ mbit ADSL now folks). and only now they are willing to discus bandwidth limitation removal?
Quote rhuitron 14th February 2008, 11:29
Markey Mark FTW!!!!!

By the way,
' Steve Largent has said that the bill is “an attempt to cure a problem that simply does not exist,” and that “Government intervention is not necessary.” '

Ohhh, so NOW it isn't necessary that big brother is in the mix?
But any other useless case and it would be!
Quote cyrilthefish 14th February 2008, 11:42
The sad thing is i could use more bandwidth per month on my old 512k line a had a few years back than i can now with a 10mb line

I'd quite happily pay extra to get an un-throttled connection, but the option simply isn't there :(
Quote LeMaltor 14th February 2008, 11:46
We need this in Britain too :(
Quote freedom810 14th February 2008, 14:21
The people he is speaking too sure seem fasinated.
Quote rhuitron 14th February 2008, 15:24
^ Freedom810

I Second THAT! ROFL
Quote p3n 14th February 2008, 15:27
Im 'fine' with bandwidth limits, for example 50gb per month - if I pay for that I expect to be able to use that and at the speed im also paying for.
All this throttling based on ports/protocols HAVE to effect legit uses and unless its stated somewhere that you connection is actually 1:50-1000 contention (hi sky broadband/bt) then the telecomms companies are getting away with murder.
They're happy to sell 1 million people 10mbit connections but can only support this number of clients at worse contention than advertised.
Quote naokaji 14th February 2008, 15:28
just get rid of those old crappy copper cables so bandwidth throttling becomes unnecessary... (atleast for a while).
Quote devdevil85 14th February 2008, 17:03
BW throttling is BS and tbh ISPs need to speed up connections rather than propogate who gets what because what I'm paying for every month is having access to the net at avg speeds of 8 Mbps download & 800 Kbps upload. Who are they to say how much of that I use every second of every day of every month? I'm paying for that access speed.
Quote pendragon 14th February 2008, 18:14
i've never had a problem with having my bandwidth throttled. However, I do support this legislation, as I think on principle, if it's advertised as unlimited it should *be* unlimited.
Quote HourBeforeDawn 14th February 2008, 20:36
Quote:
Originally Posted by devdevil85
BW throttling is BS and tbh ISPs need to speed up connections rather than propogate who gets what because what I'm paying for every month is having access to the net at avg speeds of 8 Mbps download & 800 Kbps upload. Who are they to say how much of that I use every second of every day of every month? I'm paying for that access speed.

exactly why should we pay for something and then not be able to use it, complete BS.
Quote Lemur 6 15th February 2008, 00:36
Problem is, if these companies are told by the gov't that they can't throttle bandwidth, they'll just go and charge you more for it. Greedy buggers... all of them.
Quote Sark.inc 15th February 2008, 07:21
we get this in NZ

we pay for a "full speed connection" of 8mbps, but really at most the line is only capable of 3-5 because the network is so degraded, not to mention that crap data caps we get, 10gb for 60NZ= about 45USD or so

Don't get me started on the upload...
Quote Lowsidex2 15th February 2008, 22:16
They'll get it in one form or the other. Either throttling or in a pay-per-byte subscriptions.. maybe both. But with more legit forms of p2p and online movie watching, I see the latter being the more likely outcome.
Quote r4tch3t 17th February 2008, 04:57
Quote:
Originally Posted by cnvrt
we get this in NZ

we pay for a "full speed connection" of 8mbps, but really at most the line is only capable of 3-5 because the network is so degraded, not to mention that crap data caps we get, 10gb for 60NZ= about 45USD or so

Don't get me started on the upload...
Yep ADSL sucks, I am with Telstra on cable and get my full 10Mbit but only 20GB for 70NZD I really miss my 16Mbit unlimited connection from the UK.
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