Canada: Operators Directed to Stop Zero-Rate Video

While zero-rated data gains popularity in some markets (Colombia, Pakistan, Zambia), the Canadian regulator, CRTC, directed two MNOs, Bell Mobility and Videotron to eliminate this "unlawful practice", which they categorize as "application-specific economic Internet Traffic Management Practice (ITMP)".

CRTC announced that "As Canadians turn more and more to the Internet for viewing content, it is important to make sure that these new platforms are made available to Canadians in a fair and open manner. In this regard, the CRTC issued a decision today that reinforces its commitment to an open Internet. 

The CRTC has directed Bell Mobility and Vidéotron to stop giving their mobile television services, Bell Mobile TV and illico.tv, an unfair advantage in the marketplace, to the disadvantage of other Internet content. These companies exempted their own mobile television services from their standard monthly data charges. Content from other websites or apps, on the other hand, counted against the customer’s data cap.

• Bell Mobility must eliminate this unlawful practice by April 29, 2015.
   
• For its part, Vidéotron indicated that it planned to withdraw its illico.tv app for BlackBerry and Android devices by the end 2014. Vidéotron must confirm by March 31, 2015 that this app has been withdrawn and ensure that any new mobile TV service it offers does not give it an unfair preference or advantage over similar services.

See "CRTC continues to set the course for the future of television with Let's Talk TV decisions" - here and a detailed discussion "Broadcasting and Telecom Decision CRTC 2015-26" - here.  

Rogers Stops DPI/Traffic Management; Cisco: "there have been very few cases of misclassification"

 
For several months now, Rogers is facing resistance against its traffic management policy enforcement, as it misclassifies some non P2P file sharing traffic as such. This comes from interested parties (Canadian Gamers - here) and, more importantly, Canada's regulator, the CRTC (see "CRTC to Rogers: We Know what you are doing ..!" - here and "CRTC to Rogers: Fix your DPI System!" -here).

It turns out the Rogers decided to give up on traffic management enforcement (this follows a similar step by Bell Canada - here). So either the problem is too complicated for Cisco to solve, or there is no longer a business justification to manage P2P file sharing traffic.

In his letter to the CRTC, Kenneth G. Engelhart, SVP Regulatory (here), says that:  

• First, it should be noted that very little traffic is affected by the traffic management of unidentified traffic on peer-to-peer file sharing ports. Rogers has conducted a test of real world traffic and determined that only .005% of real world traffic falls into this category. In other words, 5 one thousandths of 1% of real world traffic is not classified by the Cisco software and is on peer-to-peer file sharing ports
   
• Nonetheless, out of an abundance of caution and to allay any concerns which the Commission’s investigation may have created, we have reconfigured the Cisco equipment so that the unclassified traffic on peer-to-peer ports is no longer traffic managed.
   
• In addition, we have been reviewing our traffic shaping policy for several months. New technologies and ongoing investments in network capacity will allow Rogers to begin phasing out that policy starting in March 2012. These changes will be introduced to half of Rogers existing Internet customers by June 2012 and to its remaining customers by December 2012.

Rogers added a letter signed by Larry Chang (pictured), VP engineering Technology, ERBU stating that "there have been very few cases where traffic has been misclassified as peer-to-peer file sharing traffic". 

CRTC to Rogers: We Know what you are doing ..!

 
Back in October, the Canadian regulator, CRTC, asked Rogers, the cable operator, to fix its DPI system, as it confuses games with P2P file-sharing (see "CRTC to Rogers: Fix your DPI System!" - here).
 

This is not over yet, and the CRTC had to send another letter (here), this time by Andrea Rosen (pictured), Chief Compliance and Enforcement Officer.

".. Based on the preliminary results of our ongoing investigation, Commission staff is of the belief that Rogers Communications Inc. (“Rogers”) applies a technical ITMP to unidentified traffic using default peer-to-peer (“P2P”) ports. On the basis of our evidence to date, any traffic from an unidentified time-sensitive application making use of P2P ports will be throttled resulting in noticeable degradation of such traffic .. Within two weeks, I look forward to you either presenting us with a rebuttal of our evidence or providing us with a plan to come into compliance with the Act".

From the "Summary of Evidence":

".. As Cisco is Rogers’ vendor, the Compliance and Enforcement Sector had and continues to have tests conducted against information from the website of Cisco Systems, Inc. (“Cisco”). Preliminary testing results indicate that unidentified traffic using default P2P ports, as identified in the Cisco SCA BB Protocol Reference Guide is throttled. Such results further indicate that:

• default P2P ports for TCP traffic are subject to throttling, except port 6969, and
• until December 20, 2011, all default P2P ports for UDP traffic were subject to throttling"

Bell Canada will Stop Shape "diminishing" P2P Traffic on March 2012

   

After Bell Canada said that "P2P File Sharing is no Longer a capacity Issue" (here), could not deploy Usage based Billing to its served ISPs (here), and had application identification failures in its DPI system (here) the Canadian carrier decided that there it should no longer use its DPI system (which they call ITMP - Internet Traffic Management Practice) for P2P shaping.

In a letter to the Chris Seidl, Executive Director, Telecommunications, CRTC , Denis E. Henry, Vice-President – Regulatory, Government Affairs and Public Law and Philippe Gauvin, Counsel – Regulatory Law & Policy explain (see below and here):

"With the increasing popularity of streamed video and other traffic, P2P file-sharing, as a proportion of total traffic, has been diminishing. This is not to say that it no longer has an impact on network congestion. Nevertheless, and in light of the extensive investments the Companies have made in additional network capacity, and given economic ITMPs in the marketplace, the Companies will withdraw the shaping of P2P traffic on the Companies' networks, with regards to both retail and wholesale traffic, effective 1 March 2012".

Canada: Final(?) Decision - No UBB for Bell Canada Wholesale Service

   

A year ago the Canadian regulator, CRTC, allowed Bell Canada to use metered (usage based) billing (UBB) for its wholesale broadband service (here). Since then ISPs announced their intention to apply the overage charges to their subscribers (here and here), the CRTC delayed the decision (here), the Canadian government said it will overrule the CRTC UBB plans (here) and Bell said it is rethinking it (here).

Now, the CRTC made a new decision, and rejected the wholesale usage based billing idea. See "Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2011-703" - here.

• The Commission has decided that there are two acceptable billing models. The first is a capacity-based billing model in which independent service providers determine in advance the amount of capacity they will need. Should demand exceed this capacity, they will have to manage their network capacity until they purchase more. The second model is the existing flat rate model, where independent service providers pay a flat fee per month regardless of usage.
    
• The Commission has also decided that rates for either model should be based on each of the individual large cable and telephone companies’ costs to provide the service plus a reasonable markup, and further, that these markups be comparable for all cable and telephone companies. As an exception to this and consistent with the Commission’s decisions in Telecom Regulatory Policy 2010-632, the telephone companies may charge an additional 10 percent markup for usage and access to the faster fibre-to-the-node services. This will encourage companies to continue to invest in this new technology.

See also Michael Geist post "The CRTC's UBB Decision: Bell Loses But Do Consumers Win?" - here.

Game is not Over: Canadian Gamers vs. Rogers' DPI

  

The debate in Canada over Rogers' traffic management and DPI problems is not resolved yet. Although Rogers admitted to have  issues with its classification and policy enforcement actions in March (here) and was ordered by the regulator, CRTC, to fix it (here), the Canadian Gamers Organization (CGO) is not happy yet. 

Several quotes from the letter sent by CGO to the CRTC last week, related to the classification and rate-limiting policies, are shown below (see the full text here).

All-in-all, it shows the complexity of implementing a scalable policy enforcement structure, that will allow the ISP to implement its commercial goals, to millions of users with combination of policies controlling "real-time (VoIP, gaming)", "jitter sensitive (streaming video)", "normal" and "bandwidth hogs" applications. 

  

Until this is done correctly, it will be very difficult to market premium "QoE based tiered services".  Nevertheless, referring to yesterday's post on standalone vs. embedded DPI solutions (here) - it seems that standalone products are much closer to implement this strategy.

• .. Yet it is apparent from Rogers’ letter of September 2 that other applications and games are being misclassified by its ITMP and pushed into this rate limiting channel... Rogers states openly in its September 2 letter that World of Warcraft and unspecified “other games” are diverted to this rate-limited channel by its DPI. This would be consistent with reports the CGO has received recently from our members. It means anything running above 80/kbps with file sharing applications running is being actively impacted and misclassified by Rogers ITMP
   
• Even if games or other applications ran below the 80/kbps threshold individually; if they were running simultaneously that combines upload traffic to exceed 80/kbps with P2P applications running, they would also be impacted by Rogers ITMP from what Rogers has disclosed to the commission.  Rogers’ ITMP is activated “for traffic at 80 kbps and above”, and through Rogers disclosure is only active when P2P file sharing applications are open. As the commission well knows, Canadian consumers can have several gaming systems, wireless devices, and PCs hooked up simultaneously in any given home network set up.
   
• Further, CGO wishes to submit that not all games run below 80/kbps.  World of Warcraft is an older game, and since development and release of this game, newer games are increasingly becoming more sophisticated requiring much more bandwidth. World of Warcraft recently updated to provide a setting to users which would make the game server respond faster to user actions, but at the cost of the user's upstream bandwidth increasing.  World of Warcraft also has a built-in VOIP for in-game team chat on top of regular game data transmitted to developer’s servers and to other peers on the network, however the bulk of World of Warcraft users prefer to use alternate VOIP solutions (due to better sound quality/voices being much clearer), which can be additionally taxing on the upstream bandwidth.
    
• The developers of the game Homefront,  for example, state it requires users to have consistent upload traffic between 100 - 120/kbps in order for the game to run smoothly with a direct connection to their servers, stating that most lower end DSL connections in the US support upload of 768/kbps. 

 

CRTC to Rogers: Fix your DPI System!

   

6 months ago, Rogers admitted that its "traffic management equipment that can interfere with World of Warcraft .. We have determined that the problem occurs only when our customers are simultaneously using peer-to-peer file sharing applications and running the game"  - see "Rogers [Canada] Admits its P2P Traffic Management Impacts Interactive Gaming" - here.
 

      

Now, the CRTC has instructed Rogers to fix the problem. In a letter that was sent on Friday to Rogers,  (here, from DSPreports.com), John Traversy, Executive Director, Telecommunications says: "Commission staff notes that in its report entitled World of Warcraft Testing, dated 25 July 2011, Rogers indicated that it had implemented a “whitelisting” solution to resolve issues related to misclassification of this specific game. Based on information provided by Rogers’ 2 September 2011 letter, as noted above, Commission staff considers that Rogers’ ITMPs could potentially continue to misclassify time-sensitive traffic such as other online games and therefore this could be affecting those games. Commission staff considers that Rogers should address and resolve this misclassification problem As a result, Commission staff requests that Rogers file a plan for resolving the possibility of misclassification of other interactive game traffic, by 27 September 2011, that includes specific steps and timelines for each step". 

Bell Canada Throttled hotfile.com (DPI Mistake) and other Net Neutrality Complaints

 

Michael Geist (pictured), a Canadian law professor, complied a report on consumer complaints to the Canadian regulator on Net Neutrality issues.

According to the report, 58% of the complaints were about throttling, and 31% on traffic management. 36% of the cases were rejected by the CRTC and 33% got telco concessions.
 

See "Canadian ISPs & Consumer Complaints" - here.

One of the cases - Rogers throttling WoW gamers was already covered in my blog (here). A newer one against Rogers, still ongoing, is about throttling VoIP (here).

Another case shows a letter, from Bell Canada to the Canadian regulator (CRTC) admitting their DPI system mistakenly identified web downloads from www.hotfile.com as P2P file sharing and therefore throttling it (here).

While Bell's network management page (here) say they only throttle P2P file sharing - "These traffic management measures impact only those Bell Internet High Speed service customers who are using common peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing applications during scheduled traffic management periods. Customers using P2P file sharing applications may experience an increase in duration time to download and upload (for Bell Internet DSL) and upload only (for Bell Internet Portable and Rural) files during peak usage periods",

Hotfile downloads may not be qualified as P2P traffic - but I don't see the real reason to distinguish between the two, as far as fair use and reasonable traffic management are concerned.

Canada's Usage based Billing - Bell Rethinks, Netflix to the Rescue

     

Bell Canada Usage based Billing story continues (see previous episodes here).

Now the carrier has a new idea - it proposed that " ..the CRTC implement a new wholesale Internet pricing model that supports investment, competition and choice. Called Aggregated Volume Pricing, or AVP, the model provides wholesale ISPs with complete pricing flexibility on a per-customer basis. It offers wholesale ISPs the flexibility to develop their own pricing approaches, while supporting the fundamental principle that those who use less network capacity do not subsidize those that use the most .. In the case of legacy networks, the vast majority of ISPs will not have to pay for AVP because Bell will provide a significant usage credit up to 41 GB per user on an aggregate basis. As long as the ISP average does not exceed 41 GB per user, it will not have to pay AVP".

For more details on "How the AVP model works" see "Bell’s Aggregated Volume Pricing (AVP) proposal for high-speed Internet services used by wholesale ISPs" - here.

On the same day, Neil Hunt (picture), Chief Product Officer, Netflix was there to help his loyal Canadian customers, in a different way.

In the company's blog, Neil announces that "starting today, watching movies and TV shows streaming from Netflix will use 2/3 less data on average, with minimal impact to video quality. Now Canadians can watch 30 hours of streaming from Netflix in a month that will consume only 9 GBytes of data, well below most data caps ..Any member can adjust the settings anytime by visiting the Manage Video Quality page, found under Your Account .. In the past, viewing 30 hours of Netflix could consume as much as 70 GBytes, if it was all in HD, and typically about 30 GBytes".

So, with the new proposal from Bell, Netflix users may go back to the previous quality!

See "Netflix Lowers Data Usage By 2/3 For Members In Canada" - here.
   

Rogers [Canada] Admits its P2P Traffic Management Impacts Interactive Gaming

   

In a letter to the Canadian Regulator, CRTC, Rogers says that "Our tests have determined that there is a problem with our traffic management equipment that can interfere with World of Warcraft .. We recently introduced a software modification to solve the problems our customers are experiencing with World of Warcraft. However, there have been recent changes to the game, which has created new problems. A second software modification to address these new issues will not be ready until June .. We have determined that the problem occurs only when our customers are simultaneously using peer-to-peer file sharing applications and running the game".

See the letter, posted to openmedia.ca, site - here.

According to Roger's Network Management Policy [here]:

"Rogers manages traffic associated with certain P2P file sharing protocols for customers of Rogers Hi-Speed Internet (delivered over cable) and Portable Internet from Rogers. We use packet inspection to determine the type (but not the content) of upstream traffic only. High-volume, low time-sensitive traffic (such as P2P file sharing) is limited to ensure all customers have a high level of service for time-sensitive tasks like sending email, requesting web pages, video and voice applications. For Rogers Hi Speed Internet (delivered over cable) and Portable Internet from Rogers customers, the maximum upload speed for P2P file sharing traffic is 80 kbps at all times. There are no limits on download speed for any application or protocol .. Rogers does not manage download P2P file sharing traffic; however, some P2P applications will limit download speeds based on various factors, including the amount of P2P upload traffic and protocol acknowledgments. These factors may be responsible for customers experiencing slow download P2P file sharing speeds.."

Canada: The Government will Overrule CRTC's Usage Fees

 

The saga around the CRTC decision on usage fees (see "Canada: Wholesale Usage Fees Delayed" - here) continues.

Now, Tony Clement, Canada's Industry Minister, says - ""We asked the CRTC to review their decision, and if they come back with the same decision the cabinet would overrule it because it wouldn't be consistent with government policy ... promoting competition and choice" (See "Canada's Industry Minister Clement will overrule CRTC's usage based billing proposal" - here ).  

It is always a pleasure to see democracy in action!

The official ministry site says (see "Minister Clement Talks Digital Economy with University of Alberta Students" - here): "The Government expressed its concern over this decision, and its possible effect on consumers, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and innovators in Canada. In order to continue to innovate and participate in the digital economy, Canadians must have meaningful choice in their Internet services and the opportunity to take full advantage of advanced online applications".

Canada: Wholesale Usage Fees Delayed

  

The Canadian regulator, CRTC, decided few weeks ago to allow wholesale carriers to use metered (usage based) billing (see "CRTC [Canada] Approves Usage Based Billing to Bell Canada" - here). The decision was quickly translated into usage-based charging by Canadian ISPs (see "Canadian ISPs Charge DSL Subscribers for Over-Consumption" - here).

Now, the chairman of the CRTC, Konrad von Finckenstein, Q.C. (picture), announced that the CRTC has decided to "Delay the implementation of usage-based billing for wholesale customers by at least 60 days and Launch, of our own motion, a review of our decision to verify that:

1. it protects consumers
2. those who use the Internet heavily pay for their excess use, and
3. Small ISPs retain maximum flexibility and continue to be a key source of innovation in the industry."

See "Statement from the Chairman of the CRTC on usage-based billing" - here.

Primus, for example, announced that (here) "In light of the CRTC’s recent announcement to review their decision and delay the implementation of Usage Based Billing, Primus will not implement usage caps on our internet service for at least 60 days, pending final direction from the CRTC".

I can’t see any change to Bell Internet "Get answers to your Internet usage questions" page (here).

Nevertheless, the CRTC message emphasizes that "We are convinced that Internet services are no different than other public utilities, and the vast majority of Internet users should not be asked to subsidize a small minority of heavy users. For us, it is a question of fundamental fairness. Let me restate: ordinary users should not be forced to subsidize heavy users "

CRTC [Canada] Approves Usage Based Billing to Bell Canada

 

A recent decision by the Canadian regulator, CRTC, allows Bell Canada to use metered (usage based) billing in its wholesale broadband service:

"In this decision, the Commission approves the Bell companies’ request to review and vary Telecom Decision 2010-255 with respect to the implementation of usage-based billing for their Gateway Access Services (GAS) customers and with respect to equivalent treatment as it relates to promotions. The Commission also approves the Bell companies’ request regarding the level of rates for the GAS UBB component and excessive usage charge, and initiates a proceeding to examine whether the rates for the UBB components of GAS and of third-party Internet access service should be lower than the comparable retail UBB rates. Finally, the Commission denies the Bell companies’ request to readjust the costs used to determine the flat-fee component of GAS."

See "Telecom Decision CRTC 2010-802" - here.

CBCNEWS reports (here) that based on this decision - ".. Bell will charge wholesale service providers a flat monthly fee to connect to its network, and for a set monthly usage limit per each ISP customer the ISP has. Beyond that set limit, users will be charged per gigabyte, depending on the speed of their connections. Customers using the fastest connections of five megabits per second, for example, will have a monthly allotment of 60 GB, beyond which Bell will charge $1.12 per GB to a maximum of $22.50. If a customer uses more than 300 GB a month, Bell will also be able to implement an additional charge of 75 cents per gigabyte."

While in mobile service, usage based billing gains traction (leading to Bill Shock Prevention regulation), in fixed services (cable or DSL) there is still hesitation to implement it after so many years of flat rates (see - AT&T). No wonder a wholesale giant like Bell can do it, potentially leaving the small ISPs with no other choice.  It seems that "fair use" policies are more common today (example - Telenet)

Canada: Traffic Management Regulation Applies to Mobile Data

     

The Canadian regulator, CRTC, decided last week that its "ITMP (see below) policy framework set out in Telecom Regulatory Policy 2009-657 applies to the use of mobile wireless data services to provide Internet access".

See "Telecom Decision CRTC 2010-445 - Modifications to forbearance framework for mobile wireless data services" - here.

The distinction between wireless and wireless services exist in other countries, as the way these operators got their licenses and the competition level is different. While you may have only one broadband service available (usually an incumbent carrier which used to be a country owned PTT) a number of wireless services are there to chose from (which paid for the licenses). Supporters of Net Neutrality naturally like it to be implemented by all ISPs and carriers.

CRTC's ITMP (Internet traffic management practices), adapted on October 21, 2009. The, it was not applicable to wireless services, and determined that ISPs traffic management:

• Should be transparent, address a specific need and "not unjustly discriminatory nor unduly preferential"
   
• Cannot block internet traffic
   
• Allowed to delay non-time-sensitive applications ("P2P file sharing applications") [which may be considered as not "Net Neutrality" correct)
   
• Not allowed to delay real-time-sensitive applications ("real-time audio or video")

Related post: "DPI Deployments - Part7: Canadian ISPs" - here. See also "Canada Approves Consumption-Based Billing" - here.

UK Mobile Internet - Vodafone and Orange Pushing Usage based Billing (as well as Bell Canada)

 

Both Vodafone and Orange UK made some official/semi-official statements about charging Internet mobile subscribers by usage (see details below).

Usage based billing is the ultimate revenue opportunity for ISPs, as users have no idea how much traffic is generated by each transaction (web page, ebook downloaded, Skype call, file-sharing ..). Such pricing policy is not easy to sell, especially for an Internet service, that was always offered with flat-rates (mainly on the fixed side).

Even the fixed-internet service changes - see "AT&T CEO Sees Metered Pricing in Future" - here), similar concepts in the US cable market and recent news from Canada - "Canada Approves Consumption-Based Billing" - here.


Vodafone UK:

A Vodafone person responding in a formal Vodafone forum is saying (here) "We are planning to introduce Out Of Bundle charging for Pay Monthly customers from 1st June 2010 .. The charging will be as follows:

• Monthly Bundle customers will pay £5 for every 500MB after the first 500MB
• Customers without a monthly Bundle will pay 50p for every 10MB after the first 25MB

Whilst you've all previously been used to there not being any Out Of Bundle charging, the current information available online is clear in explaining that we could introduce such charging at any time" 

Orange  UK:

Orange UK published their iPad service plan, which is similar to the above (see "Orange offers 'pay per meg' iPad 3G data plan" - here) - "The key plan bills data at a rate of five pence per megabyte up to a monthly maximum of £40. That's 800MB."


I wonder if Orange can tell if someone is using his existing SIM in a new iPad.

The new micro-SIM does not seem to be a challenge, as the electronic contact area is no different to that of a conventional SIM. A Do-it-Yourself guide - here.




Related posts:

• DPI Deployments - Part4: UK - Everybody is Doing it ! - here
• Orange UK - Tiered Service Plan - Productivity to the Customer and the Network - here