Virgin Media New Traffic Management Policy - P2P is Still an Issue

Vrigin Media (UK, Cable) published its new traffic management policy (see previous post - "Virgin Media: Higher Speeds, New Traffic Management Rules" - here). For Virgin Media, P2P file sharing is still an issue, while some other ISPs have reduced control over P2P (Bell Canada, here) as streaming traffic gains higher share of the network's capcity, and cannot be shaped without affecting the user's QoE.

"We moderate the total volume of file sharing traffic on our network between 5pm and midnight on weekdays and midday and midnight on weekends. This policy, which applies to all broadband packages, is restricted to Peer to Peer (“P2P”) applications which are commonly used to distribute large amounts of data.

This policy does not impact any applications other than Peer to Peer, so things like watching iPlayer, online gaming, making calls via Skype, downloading music tracks from iTunes or streaming them from Spotify and sending an email or normal browsing are unaffected.

It's important to remember that these traffic management policies only apply at peak times when speeds are most likely to be affected by people using more than their fair share. Outside of peak times we do not manage traffic". 

"The way that our customers use their broadband is changing all the time, so in the future we will adapt the policy in order to continue to provide the best service possible for all customers. Don't worry though, we'll always let you know on our website if we're going to make any changes, and its not going to change very often"

See "Virgin Media’s updated Traffic Management policy" - here.