Zen Internet: Unlike Other UK ISPs - We do not Shape Traffic

A post to Zen Internet's (UK) blog states that "All ISPs manage the data running across the network – the traffic – to some extent, but some larger ISPs are more intrusive. In some cases they throttle speeds, deliberately slowing down connections when users exceed what the ISP terms acceptable use. In others, they use a technique called Deep Packet Inspection to monitor usage and throttle the connection when you’re using specific bandwidth-intensive applications, such as Peer to Peer file-sharing.

.. At Zen, we think this is wrong. We don’t use traffic shaping or deep packet inspection in any form. We feel that our customers deserve services that are open, honest and easy to understand. That’s why our products use a fully transparent system of allowances, where customers simply pay for blocks of additional usage when they go over their generous monthly allocation, and where unused blocks can be held back for another month".

However, we understand that broadband usage patterns are changing. More of us are doing more online through more devices. That’s why we doubled the usage allowances across our product range and why we invest heavily in the network to ensure we can provide reliable speeds and quality of service.

See "No throttling, no squeezing: The Zen approach to Traffic Management" - here.

Sprint's Reasonable Network Management Practices - Fairness, Limit top 5%, Video Optimization

Tammy Parker reports to FierceWireless that "Sprint's pledge of unlimited data [see "Will New Competition Drive AT&T to Bring Back Unlimited Data?" - here and "Sprint CEO: 'we have no plans go to tiered data pricing'" - here] is looking increasingly less sustainable, as the carrier maneuvers to rein in network traffic generated by its heaviest data users and ensure quality of service for the majority of its customers. Postpaid as well as prepaid Sprint customers, including those on its Virgin Mobile USA and Boost Mobile sub-brands, have begun receiving notices alerting them to new data "prioritization management" the operator will employ as of next month to prevent network congestion .. Prioritization can include a reduction of throughput or speed for those targeted users connected to congested sites".

Sprint's "Open Internet Information" page (here) says that 

• Sprint uses various tools and techniques to manage its network .. Sprint's network management activities may include identifying spam and preventing its delivery to customers, detecting malicious Internet traffic and preventing the distribution of viruses or other harmful code or content, allocating spectrum and network resources amongst customers, devices, and price plans, and using other tools and techniques to deliver the best possible broadband Internet experience of Sprint's customers
   
• Network bandwidth isn't infinite. In times of network congestion, the network segment or sector impacted doesn't have enough bandwidth to fully serve all customers requesting it. The network is designed to dynamically allocate available bandwidth in a way that is fair to all users. The fairness algorithms below describe the approach. The resulting impact to the end-user experience is that the user may temporarily experience slower-than-normal data speeds until the congestion has passed.
   
• On the Sprint 3G (CDMA) and 4G LTE networks, Sprint uses a proportional fairness scheduler algorithm that allocates network resources based on radio frequency signal quality and other metrics. During times of congestion, the proportional fairness scheduler algorithm ensures no one user is deprived of network resources.
   
• On Sprint's 4G WIMAX network, Sprint may periodically measure a user's bandwidth usage on a specific network segment or sector, as compared to the overall bandwidth usage for all users on that segment or sector. At times when an individual user is consuming high amounts of bandwidth and at the same time the overall bandwidth is being used by all users on that network segment or sector at high levels, Sprint 4G customers may experience a temporary adjustment in available network resources until the conditions for network congestion have passed.

• Sprint currently employs prioritization to improve data experience for the vast majority of users on Sprint’s CDMA and LTE networks. The heaviest data users consume a disproportionate share of network resources and cause a negative user experience for the rest. To more fairly allocate network resources in times of congestion, customers falling within the top 5% of data users may be prioritized below other customers attempting to access network resources, resulting in a reduction of throughput or speed as compared to performance on non-congested sites .. in addition to the heavy user treatment outlined above, Sprint also reserves the right to alter the priority of other customers on specific devices or plans on the Sprint network. Customers on devices or plans subject to prioritization management may experience a reduction in throughput or speed
   
• Optimization is deployed for RTSP and HTTP video traffic and all HTTP web traffic [by Citrix/Bytemobile - here]. Video optimization uses four basic technologies [see "Sprint Migrates from a "Basket of Tools" to Consolidated Video Optimization Solutions" - here]:
    
• Video Delivery Synchronization: Delivers video "just in time" to the mobile device. Intent is to eliminate network waste associated with transmitting video that isn't watched.
   
• Quality Aware Transcoding: Matches video quality with network conditions in real time. Optimizes video for the bandwidth available to the user. Intent is to minimize or eliminate annoying video stalling. Similar in concept to the optimization techniques already employed by sites using adaptive streaming.
   
• Video Transcoding: Transcodes video with intent to optimize the video experience for the user while efficiently using network bandwidth. Provides for the elimination of video waste using techniques like replacing less efficient video codecs with more efficient ones. Optimizes video for the mobile device the customer is using.
   
• Intelligent Caching: Caches optimized video in the network with the intent of eliminating delay associated with internet video sites.
   
• Web optimization uses three basic technologies:
• Caching: Caches web pages to help avoid delays associated with retrieval of the same internet content multiple times.
   
• Text/Binary Compression: Lossless compression of data and binary files using standard compression techniques supported by HTTP-compliant browsers.
   
• Image Compression: JPEG and GIF compression designed to reduce the size of images while maintaining no user perceptible loss of quality.

See "Sprint slams on the brakes for top 5% of data users in congested areas" - here.

Torres Networks: Turned MNO's Quota Management into Real-Time (w/Cisco)

 
Following my previous post on Torres Networks' recent PCRF deployment announcement ("Torres PCRF Deployed for Quota and Time-based Policies" - here), I got the following update from Nandita Subbarao (pictured), Manager, Marketing, Torres Networks India:

"Torres has deployed two differentiating Fair-Use Policy use cases with real-time policy control, in the network of a South-East Asian mobile operator. 

Prior to the deployment, the operator offered data service packages with quota and speed limits. The subscriber’s quota limits, however, were not monitored in real time, but instead processed batch-wise at designated times every day. As a result, a subscriber could continue to enjoy additional quota without the system detecting the transgression in usage limit for several hours, leading to a loss of revenue for the operator. With the deployment of Torres Policy Engine, this leakage is now plugged in real time.

The second policy-based package enables and enforces quota usage depending on the time of the day. A subscriber who buys this plan can enjoy higher speed and a separate quota at off-peak hours. Because the policies can be layered and prioritized, the new policies do not interfere with each other, or with the operator’s existing plans or promotions. 

The operator will migrate its existing subscribers (approx. 1 million) to these two use cases in the coming weeks. Moving forward, the operator will offer these FUP services to its entire subscriber base of approx. 11 million. Torres is in the process of rolling out more use cases at the operator’s network.

The Torres Policy Engine protects future growth with an architecture that keeps use cases agnostic to the interface provided by the PCEF. The PCEF, currently in use at the operator’s network (Cisco SCE 2020) provides a proprietary interface towards the PCRF. 

In the coming quarters, the operator is expected to add PCEFs from vendors with 3GPP-compliant interfaces (Cisco SCE 8000, using both Gx/Gy and the proprietary interface). Torres Policy Engine will simultaneously support both the legacy PCEF and the standard PCEF for the use cases.

Torres Policy Engine is deployed on standard telecom-grade hardware with a Linux OS and Oracle DB".

UK ISP: Olympics without FUP or Traffic Shaping- A Revenue Opportunity?

    

While there are many signs that the London 2012 Olympic Games will set at least one new world record - in Internet traffic (here), one ISP remains calm and certain in its ability to deliver the service, and encourges its subscribers to use it.

ZEN Internet said in a press release "The Olympics will create a massive amount of demand for bandwidth due to the BBC alone providing live coverage from 24 locations during the event therefore meaning the Internet will be used to stream huge amounts of video".

We still stick firmly with the policy of no Fair Usage Policy (FUP) and no traffic shaping on our award winning broadband services. This means that with us, unlike many other ISPs, you can enjoy your usage allowance at the fastest speed your connection can support at anytime, no matter what type of application, service or media you want to access". 
  
Compare to - "2012 Olympics: Will ISPs Use Traffic shaping to Cope with Demand?" - here.

[Nevertheless] .. "If you are going to be watching the Olympics online you may want to keep an eye on your usage. You can find out how to do this by reading our Broadband: Tracking your Usage knowledgebase article".

Is this going to be a great revenue opportunity of subscribers buying "Buying additional capacity" ? 

See "Our preparations for London 2012" - here.

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.

BEREC: Blocking/throttling P2P and VoIP with DPI is Frequently Done in Europe

  

Back in December, the EU TRANSPORT, TELECOMMUNICATIONS and ENERGY Council published a document summarizing its current work and consolations on Net Neutrality (see "The EU Takes its time with Net Neutrality: It is Important, but Let's Monitor and Study First" - here).

  

One of the action items was to "Monitor, jointly with BEREC, the issue of traffic management to allow for a smooth flow of proportional, necessary and transparent traffic management practices that do not affect net neutrality" and "Continue studying, with the support of BEREC's investigations, any aspects of net neutrality where significant and persistent problems are substantiated, including charges and conditions that mobile operators impose on VoIP users as well as throttling of content, applications and services".

Now, BEREC, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications, announced that it ".. has submitted to the Commission its preliminary findings on reported Internet traffic management practices, following a Europe-wide data collection exercise launched jointly with the Commission in December 2011".

"The most frequently reported traffic management practices are the blocking and/or throttling of peer to-peer (P2P) traffic, on both fixed and mobile networks, and the blocking of Voice over IP (VoIP) traffic (mostly on mobile networks, usually based on specific contract terms). When blocking/throttling is implemented in the network, it is typically done through deep packet inspection (DPI) .. BEREC also found a wide variety of data caps and “fair use” practices - these were not the main focus of its investigation, since (with some exceptions) in general they do not imply differentiated treatment of traffic"

"About one quarter of respondents provide justifications for certain traffic management practices based on what could be described as “security and integrity” concerns".

See "BEREC preliminary findings on traffic management practices in Europe show that blocking of VoIP and P2P traffic is common, other practices vary widely" - here.

DPI Deployments [117]: Regional Wireless Operators [US] Deployed Sandvine Fairshare

   

 

Sandvine announced that ".. it has successfully deployed its Network Policy Control solutions in three North American wireless networks, BendBroadband, FRC/The Blue Zone and Main Street Broadband. All three operators became Sandvine customers in fiscal 2011 and provide fixed-wireless service using a variety of access technologies including WiMAX, satellite, 3G and 4G .. These regional service providers have deployed Sandvine's Fairshare Traffic Management product to help provide quality service. This product helps manage inherent competition for limited network resources so that the best possible quality of experience is preserved for the maximum number of subscribers for the maximum amount of time". 

See "Sandvine helps regional wireless operators provide differentiated services" - here.

[Yankee Group]: Policy Control Market to Reach $1.4B in 2015; Sees Sharp Price Decline

       

According to Jennifer Pigg (pictured), Affiliate, Yankee Group latest report "Drivers including fair use, enhanced use cases, network convergence, VoLTE and M2M will combine to finally push the network policy control market over the billion-dollar mark in 2014, and to $1.394B in 2015, representing a heady 31% CAGR from the 2010 market of $365M"

The report findings below (small market size, sharp price decline) as well as very large number of vendors (here)] led the Ms. Pigg to conclude that "Until now, stand-alone policy vendors  have dominated the market. Moving forward, it will be led by control plane and large system vendors". See recent product announcements from Oracle (here) and Amdocs (here), as well as the Telcordia acquisition by Ericsson (here).

• "At $365 million for 2010, the policy and charging rules function (PCRF) market is tiny. However, with the role it plays in monetizing the network, the PCRF is the lynchpin for billions of dollars of mobile operator enhanced service revenues." 

• "Pricing for PCRF has decreased from $4 per active session to around $1 per active session. Yankee Group expects a further decline of around 10 percent over the next 12 months and up to 25 percent over the next 36 months"

Comparison to other forecasts - here.

See "The Market for Network Policy Control" - here.

Yet Another ISP Transparency Guide

  
It seems that many regulators see that network neutrality is being focused on ISP transparency, rather than the full package of "all traffic being treated equally".

After UK's BCAP recommended ISPs how to to advertize services (here), BEREC (the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications) published a draft document on ISP transparency.

See "BEREC Guidelines on Net Neutrality and Transparency: Best practices and recommended approaches" - here.

• "We stress that transparency regarding net neutrality is a key pre-condition of the end users’ ability to choose the quality of the service that best fits their needs and also should reduce the assymetry of information existing between providers and end users, fostering proactive behaviour by Internet Service Providers (ISPs)”
    

• First of all, we believe that a fully effective transparency policy should fulfill all of the following characteristics: accessibility, understandabilty, meaningfulness, comparability and accuracy .. BEREC has identified two approaches - a direct and an indirect one. With a direct approach, ISPs make information transparent to end users directly, while in an indirect approach, third parties (such as comparison websites) play a crucial role in making the information understandable for end users. A direct approach is legally required by the Framework. An indirect approach, on the other hand, is not compulsory, but it complements a direct approach
    
• BEREC finds that providers should clearly explain any general limitations, as well as any consequences of exceeding such limits. In this regards, explicit conditions such as data caps and download limits seem preferable to fair use policies Information on traffic management techniques, applied either on types of traffic or content, should be provided to end users along with information on about how these techniques may affect the end users’ access service.
   
• Application agnostic and application specific traffic management techniques should be clearly distinguished

UK: Transparency for Unlimited and "up-to" Service Speeds

    

UK's BCAP (Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice) published a set of guidelines to " bring clarity to advertisers and consumers on the use of "unlimited" and "up to" speed claims in telecommunicatons and broadband ads".

Ofcom, the UK regulator, follows this aspect of ISP services closely (see "Ofcom – The Difference between Theoretical and Real Life Broadband Speeds" - here and "Ofcom: ADSL Actual Download Speed is Only a Third of Advertized Speed - here) and it seems that the UK code of "self-regulation" does not work here and strict guidelines or regulation is needed.

BCAP states that:

• Unlimited should be used if "The user incurs no additional charge or suspension of service as a consequence of exceeding a usage threshold associated with a ‘fair usage policy’ (FUP), a traffic management policy or similar; and Limitations that do affect the speed or usage of the service are moderate only and are clearly explained in the advertisement"
   
• Speed Claims - "If a maximum speed claim is made, advertisers should be able to demonstrate that the speed is achievable for at least 10% of customers' Advertisers should also include in the ad appropriate, additional information to accompany a maximum speed claim to ensure the average consumer is not misled.  Where relevant, this includes information that bears out that a significant proportion of subscribers receive a speed that falls considerably short of what consumers might reasonably expect the service to offer"

See "Changes in advertising of 'unlimited' and broadband speed claims" - here; Unlimited guide - here and Speed Claim guide - here.

AT&T Continues to Push UBB - Now to Illegal Tethering

   

AT&T continues in its efforts to increase ARPU while trying to cap its bandwidth "abusers". Last week the carrier announced a new "fair use" policy for unlimited users (see "AT&T to Throttle Top 5% of Unlimited Subscribers" - here) and now it takes a new measure against illegal tethering (see previous action - "AT&T Detects and Enforces Tethering Policy" - here).

Zach Epstein (pictured) reports to BGR that "AT&T confirmed to BGR that it will soon begin revoking unlimited data plans from jailbroken iPhone users and other smartphone users who utilize unauthorized tethering and mobile hotspot solutions ..  which is expressly prohibited by AT&T according to its terms and conditions ..  A new report from 9to5 Mac claims that users will begin losing unlimited plans as soon as August 11th, but AT&T stated that the policy enforcement date varies depending on when the offending subscriber was sent the notification letter".

  

See "AT&T to soon begin revoking unlimited data from jailbreak hotspot users" - here.

AT&T to Throttle Top 5% of Unlimited Subscribers

 

While AT&T quickly moves to usage-based billing (see "AT&T: Usage-Based Pricing is a Success" - here), had "More than 15 million subscribers on tiered data plans" - here) and a nice ARPU increase in Q2 (see chart), it still sees the need for implementing a new throttling policy.

The carrier announced it will do so starting October 1, for "a very small minority of smartphone customers who are on unlimited plans - those whose extraordinary level of data usage puts them in the top 5 percent of our heaviest data users in a billing period" 

Currently AT&T's mobile broadband service plan, DataConnect, "is not an unlimited plan" and charges for overage ($10/GB or more, see chart below for 3G/4G plans - other plans exist for tablets).

"Starting October 1, smartphone customers with unlimited data plans may experience reduced speeds once their usage in a billing cycle reaches the level that puts them among the top 5 percent of heaviest data users. These customers can still use unlimited data and their speeds will be restored with the start of the next billing cycle. Before you are affected, we will provide multiple notices, including a grace period .. The amount of data usage of our top 5 percent of heaviest users varies from month to month, based on the usage of others and the ever-increasing demand for mobile broadband services .. Using Wi-Fi doesn't create wireless network congestion or count toward your wireless data usage".

"But even as we pursue this additional measure, it will not solve our spectrum shortage and network capacity issues. Nothing short of completing the T-Mobile merger will provide additional spectrum capacity to address these near term challenges"

See "An Update for Our Smartphone Customers With Unlimited Data Plans" - here.

See also "Sprint Will Throttle Virgin Mobile Users Exceeding 2.5GB" (also in October) - here and "Verizon's UBB Starts July 7"- here.

Tesco[UK] Fair Use Policy - Pay More or be Terminated!

  

Tesco Broadband [UK] has a common traffic management policy for its fixed broadband service: "Tesco constantly monitors the way in which our customers use our broadband services. In particular, at peak times, we will look for (and restrict) non-time-critical traffic, such as Bit Torrent, other peer to peer file sharing applications and on-line storage services ,,  during the peak hours ..we may slow down specific services to make the shared usage of our network fair for all customers .. This policy ensures that we can deliver a great service to all our customers at all times and we never have to limit the customers who are using the internet for day to day time-critical transactions, such as normal surfing, e-mailing, on-line shopping and banking, using BBC/Sky iPlayer applications, gaming or making on-line phone calls via companies like Skype".

However, Tesco's fair use policy seems to be unique (here):

"We regularly monitor and review our customer’s collective and average monthly usage to set our fair usage limit (FUL) at a level that will not affect the majority (at least 95%) of our customers. Currently the FUL is set at 100GB per month.  If a customer regularly downloads in excess of the FUL, we take the following steps:
 
1. When we first notice that a customer has exceeded the FUL, we contact the customer to bring the matter to their attention. We will ask the customer to modify their use and/or give them the opportunity to move onto a ‘Super-user tariff’ (see our Price List for details). [I can’t find it there or elsewhere]

2. If the customer declines to move to the Super-user Tariff but continues to exceed the FUL for a further two consecutive months, we will suspend or terminate the customer’s service.
 

T-Mobile UK FUP: No more video for you (after 500MB)

 

I wonder whether T-mobile UK is doing everything it can to avoid making additional revenues, or its network is so bad that it can't. Blog reader Daniel Meah commented on previous post that T-mobile UK has changed (again) its Fair Use Policy for mobile broadband.

In January T-Mobile advised subscribers "not watching videos or downloading files" and if you exceed the limit (1 to 10GB, depending on the price plan purchased) then "..between 4pm and midnight you won't be able to do other heavy usage activities such as watching videos or downloading files" (here)

Now, the FUP page (here) says - "Your price plan has a 500MB or 1GB allowance (depending on the plan you select) for streaming videos and uploading and downloading files. If you hit this limit during the month, you won't be able to do this stuff again until the next month".

They also say that you "Never pay more than your monthly fixed price" (so you can’t top-up your quota) and "you can't use your phone as a modem (tethering) or use internet on your phone for peer-to-peer file sharing or making internet phone calls" - all classic ways to increase revenues.

Conclusion - "For the best internet on your phone, connect to your home WiFi, so you won't even touch your 500MB allowance".

Allot: How to Monetize and Optimize Broadband Services?

      

Allot Communications published a new document with 12 use cases of optimization, monetization and personalization of broadband services (mobile and/or fixed). Jonathon Gordon, Director of Marketing for Allot, told me that "All of the case studies are either deployed or in process. We cannot unfortunately divulge the customer/deployment details at this stage".
 
See "Optimizing, Monetizing & Personalizing Broadband Services Use Cases" - here (registration required). Previous edition was covered here; see also "Allot - Openet: Monetizing and Controlling OTT Applications Use Cases" - here.

The use cases covered are:

• Fair Use Management 
• OTT Video Caching
• OTT Video Optimization
• Service Tiering
• Bill Shock Prevention
• Off-peak Happy Hour
• Volume Charging (Quota)
• Application-based Charging
• Bandwidth on Demand Turbo Boost
• Illegal Content Blocking
• DDoS Protection
• Blacklist Prevention (prevent outgoing SPAM)

Tele2 [Netherlands] Moves from FUP to UBB

 

Dutch mobile operators are very busy these days in trying to optimize their revenues. While KPN is said to be the first operator that will charge subscribers by application (here), Vodafone and T-Mobile maybe following (here), Tele2 decided to just join the industry mainstream and move to usage based billing.

The Wireless Federation site reports that "Tele2 Netherlands has renewed its mobile internet bundles, replacing the fair use policy with a price per MB. The bundles [see below] can be applied to any type of smartphone, although the operator has a separate rate for BlackBerry devices". Without a bundle, the cost is 1 Euro/MB, while a MB above quota is 5 Euro cents (for most plans).

See "Tele2 NL brings price per MB in place of mobile fair use policy" - here.
 
On March 31, 2011 Tele2 had 334K mobile subscribers in the Netherlands, a YoY decrease of 13%.

DPI Deployments (70): Platinum Communications [Canada] Deploys Anagran

    

Anagran announced today the ".  deployment of their FR-1000 Internet traffic manager (ITM) by Platinum Communications, a wireless internet service provider currently serving all major Alberta, Canada markets ..  In replacing their legacy DPI traffic management device with Anagran’s FR-1000 ITM, Platinum Communications immediately experienced significant improvements in both inbound and outbound network utilization, freeing up extremely valuable network capacity.  In addition, Platinum Communications was able to guarantee tiered bandwidth services to their commercial customers while maintaining fair and equitable distribution of bandwidth to their residential subscribers".

See "Platinum Communications Deploys Anagran FR-1000 Internet Traffic Manager"  - here.

Platinum Communications is a fixed-wireless ISP, with 8,500 internet subscribers, and an ARPU of $50/month. Residential subscribers  generate 87% of total revenue.

Tim Luttman (picture), COO, Platinum Communications said: "Our customers are small and large enterprises as well as other service providers, and use our network to join together their remote locations and conduct critical business activities ..  The FR-1000 was the best solution at ensuring guaranteed bandwidth SLA’s, mitigating the impact of unauthorized bandwidth abusers, and maintaining tiered service integrity for business customers”,

DPI Deployments (67): US SPs - GCI, Thumb Cellular and Carolina West Wireless Deploy Sandvine

 
Now it Sandvine's turn to name customers (see my post on Procera - here) - and we get 3(!) in one press release. So here is what Sandvine's customers have been doing with the DPI gear recently:

• GCI [Alaska - 140K wireless, 145K access lines and 118K cable subscribers - end of Q1, 2011] - " ..detect network conditions that trigger policies within their fixed networks to manage traffic congestion, improve connectivity and enhance subscribers’ Internet experience"
   
• Thumb Cellular [Michigan] - "..deployment of bandwidth-based service tiers, which allows them to provide 3G data services with a high degree of customer satisfaction.  Thumb is also deploying Fairshare Traffic Management to ensure quality Internet access for their subscribers at all times of the day"
   
• Carolina West Wireless [North Caroline] - "using Sandvine’s network policy control solutions’ device awareness capabilities to detect tethered devices .. Upon tethering detection, subscribers are prompted to opt-in to a service tier which matches their usage behavior" (see "Sandvine on Device Awareness"  - here).
  
  Slayton Stewart (picture), CEO, Carolina West Wireless said: “Tethering incurs unpredicted data traffic costs, but through the ability to identify tethered devices, we can offer a tiered service package that caters to this need while recouping some of our costs”

See "ISPs Garner Competitive Advantage Through Evolving Use of Network Policy Control" - here.

PCRF Deployments (64): Tango Telecom PCRF used for QoS based Pricing Plans

   

Tango Telecom announced "the successful deployment of its Mobile Data Charging & Policy Control Platform (iAX™ Data) with a leading APAC carrier .. Tango Telecom’s iAX™ Data platform [covered - here]  was used by a mid-tier APAC carrier to launch an unlimited data plan to its prepaid subscriber base while sustaining profitability by varying quality of service (QoS)

.. In order to manage this growing appetite for these bandwidth-hungry data services, yet insure that revenues are increasing at a similar pace, the carrier used a tiered service-level plan, which allows for adjusting QoS download speed and implementing Fair Usage Policies .. By dynamically controlling QoS on a per-subscriber basis, Tango Telecom’s Data Charging and Policy Control Platform enables carriers to offer innovative service and pricing plans to encourage spending, yet still increase profits".

See "Tango Telecom Enables Mid-Tier APAC Telco to Increase Profits on Mobile Data Services" - here. It was released during the Rural Cellular Association (RCA) show held in Las Vegas between 17-20 April.

UK: ISPs Publish New Voluntary Code on Broadband Traffic Management

 

ISPReview reports today that "Seven of the country's [UK] biggest fixed line broadband ISPs and mobile operators, including BT , Sky Broadband , TalkTalk , Virgin Media , O2 , Three (3) and Vodafone UK, have today published a new Voluntary Code of Practice (vCOP - here) for broadband Traffic Management transparency. The new initiative will be piloted throughout 2011 and reviewed again in early 2012".

See "Big UK ISPs Detail New Voluntary Code on Broadband Traffic Management", by Mark Jackson,  here.

"Most of the largest internet providers use Traffic Management to balance the performance of their network between heavy and lite users, thus avoiding network congestion. This is usually done by restricting traffic (i.e. speed) to busy services, such as P2P (BitTorrent File Sharing), or more generally at peak times of day. The result is that everybody should receive a fair internet speed".