2012 Olympics: Will ISPs Use Traffic shaping to Cope with Demand?

   
The summer Olympic games in London are going to be a milestone in broadband traffic management - in all networks - fixed and mobile and all users - UK subscribers, tourists and viewers around the world.
 
I already has several posts about the preparation for [data consumption] records: "Olympic Sized Bottlenecks" - here ; "UK 2012 Olympic Delegation: All Available Frequencies" - here ; "A Year Before the Olympics - London is Running Out of Mobile Capacity" - here, but it seems that there is still a problem to be solved.
 
Paul France reports to Cable UK that "A broadband trade association has said its members may introduce traffic management policies to cope with demand during the Olympics .. Businesses operating in London have been urged to allow staff to work from home during the international sporting event to reduce levels of congestion on the city's roads, but this move is set to have a knock-on effect on broadband networks .. The number of people planning to watch the Games online is also likely to place ISPs under strain .. As a result, trade body the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) stressed that some of its members may utilise traffic management to cope with potentially unprecedented demand for bandwidth".

"Service providers are not expected to cap data use, but may use technology to manage the network at peak times to prevent access from stalling completely .. Despite the spokesman's warnings, O2, Orange and Virgin Media insisted they do not plan to introduce any additional measures to control usage, such as throttling or data caps .. BT explained that it is expecting to see higher-than-average levels of usage throughout London 2012, but stated that it has been working to increase capacity and is consequently satisfied that it will not need to implement additional controls"

See "ISPA warns members may use traffic management during Olympics" - here.