T26-Group 1: Network Neutrality and Traffic Shaping

Group Information
Group number: 01 Group members:
 * Jesseca Hau
 * Paul Grewal
 * Amreen Murji

Lecture: CPSC 203 Winter 2009 L-04 Instructor: Donny Cheung Tutorial: T26 TA: A.Mahanti

Introduction
"When I invented the Web, I didn't have to ask anyone's permission. Now, hundreds of millions of people are using it freely. I am worried that that is going end" - Sir Tim Berners Lee

Network neutrality
The Internet has operated according to the neutrality principle since its earliest days. The internet was designed as an open medium, with the fundamental idea that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet. It ensures the internet remains free and unrestricted, allowing us to access whatever website we want, whenever we want. Network Neutrality prevents Internet Service Providers and big corporations from limiting our control of information on the net. Cable and telephone companies own the pipes that transfer data to consumers, but are not allowed to control the content within these pipes. This is how bloggers can compete with major new stations such as CTV and CNN. Several cable and telephone companies are trying to make a tiered internet, similar to tv, radio and cable. They want to make two lanes, a fast lane and slow lane. The fast lane will be for partners of these cable companies, that must pay a premium. This will allow ISP’s to act as gatekeepers, giving them permission to speed up, slow down, or block web content based on its source, ownership and destination. These companies also want to charge you for access to the network, and then charge you again for the things you do while you're online, by making packages as seen in the picture below.

With network neutrality, internet users have the ability to chose the content they view on the internet. Say an ISP perhaps signs an exclusive agreement with a search engine, or own a search engine of its own. It would be of primary financial interest to have as many people use this search engine as possible. For example if they signed an agreement with Yahoo, they would be able to make google very slow or block access completely, increasing the use of yahoo. If you were to conduct a search results would be given based on the websites that payed the most, not the site that closest matches your request. Several internet companies are advocating for network neutrality including Google, and Microsoft. Why is network neutrality so important? Because it gives everyone equal voice on the interent and prohibits large communcation corporations from controling the information available on the internet.

Traffic Shaping


Traffic Shapping, also known as "packet shaping," is the practice of regulating network data transfer to assure a certain level of performance, quality of service or return on investment. This practice involves bandwidth throttling and rate limiting. Bandwidth shaping is to control the volume of traffic being sent into a network in a specified period. And rate limiting is to control the maximum rate at which the traffic is sent. This control can be accomplished in many ways and for many reasons; however traffic shaping is always achieved by delaying packets.

Argument
ISPs in Canada and around the world have secretly practiced throttling the internet usage of their customers without notification. Throttling is a method in which ISP companies limit the internet speed of their customers. Allowing world telecoms such as Bell Canada and Rogers in charge of what people do on the internet puts an end to innovation. Therefore, actions need be taken against these acts on ISPs, thus protecting the customers by enforcing full bandwidth for a limited amount of packets. On the other hand, users that require more packets may rightfully purchase and use the extra packets without being throttled.

Did you Know?
Some ISPs claim that they provide unlimited internet services or high speed internet with huge download capacities, but they are not always telling the truth. For example, an ISP claims that their high-speed internet offers 100 GB per month capacity, but after their traffic shaping only 2 GB per day can be downloaded. So even the computer starts to operate all kinds of internet activities non-stop for the whole month (24hrs a day, every day of the month), the maximum capacity it can reach is only 60 GB. What happened to the other 40 GB?

Bell Canada
Bell Canada has been caught throttling the speed of its customers in a residential and wholesale level. This practice has further raised competition among other ISP companies and concerns amongst users. Sources say that the company has failed to prove its network is congested and therefore need to use throttling. Bell denies this and explains that they need to limit the speed on P2P applications such as Bit Torrent during peak hours because a small portion of users are disrupting the services. Recently, bell stopped providing unlimited plans and services and moved towards usage-based billing, thus customers are being charged depending on how much they download. Bell's head of regulatory affairs, Mirko Bibic, claims that traffic shaping and download limits were both necessary steps to manage ever-increasing internet use by customers. However, Bell has been caught secretly filtering P2P connections initiated by customers that resell their ISP, therefore the amount of connectivity being paid for is not given.

Rogers


Rogers has also limited how much its customers can download using bit-shaping applications to throttle the traffic generated by Bit Torrent. In fact, Rogers was the first ISP company to throttle Bit torrent because, according to them, it generated too much bandwidth. Furthermore, Rogers did not find bit-shaping applications used to limit the traffic very effective. Thus, they further decided to throttle all encrypted transfers. As a result, encrypting transfers have affected a wider range of customers, not only those that use Bit Torrent. For example, people have had trouble connecting to encrypted e-mail services and other applications they rely on encrypted connections.



Rogers continue to advertise slogans for SHARING LARGE FILES AND MUCH MORE as shown above. However not realizing throttling Bit Torrent prevents users from enjoying the luxury of sharing large files.

Shaw


Shaw introduced quality of service surcharge on March 2005 for customers using VoIP. Digital Home readers using Shaw’s high speed internet services began to see their VoIP service suddenly working erratically. Upon contacting Shaw, members were informed that the only way to ensure their VoIP service function properly was to sign up for quality of service surcharges. Furthermore, users that did sign up for Shaw’s surcharges have reported mixed results. Some claim to notice marginal improvements whereas others have experienced no improvement. Members have further complained that Shaw was engaging in traffic shaping and altering VoIP traffic streams. Sources say Shaw has responded in the past by reducing the high speed of users downloading and uploading torrents.

ISPs
Throttling is a means of way to manage their network to prevent congestion. Throttling helps ensure network bandwidth is distributed amongst a wide range of customers. ISP companies argue that traffic shaping and limiting the amount of downloading customers can do are necessary steps in order to manage the ever increasing internet usage by customers.

ISPs
The idea of throttling not only effects customers but also companies in which throttling directly affects their services to their customers, thus losing customers. These companies include Skype, CRTC. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) are in the midst of network neutrality and have asked ISP companies such as Bell and Rogers to provide access to third party internet that can resell their services in wholesale prices. Furthermore, companies including Google, Skype and Amazon, demanding that carriers and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) be banned from traffic-shaping.

Customers
Customers are unable to enjoy the luxury of internet in downloading and uploading files, p2p file sharing and using other Bit Torrent applications freely without limitations. Customers feel that they are not being provided the amount of service they are paying for. As a result, customers are unable to use other services provided by companies such as youtube and skype, thus they stop using these services.

Conclusion
Network neutrality ensures that ISP's do not have authority to control the information that consumers can access on the internet. It is essential to maintain if the internet is to be kept as a open medium for the transmission of data. ISP's are attempting to abolish the network neutrality principle in order to increase their own profit. These companies wish to control the internet by traffic shaping and bandwidth throttling. ISP use traffic shaping to solve internet overflow's problems. They shape the internet traffic into three categories, Sensitive Traffic, Best-Effort Traffic, and Undesired Traffic. This further allows them to control the bandwidth throttling and rate limiting of particular traffic's type to satisfy their own purpose. Their purpose are varied from companies to companies.Traffic shaping affects customers including residents and company service providers and only benefits ISPs. ISP do at this because their network cannot support the Insert non-formatted text here many customers, thus congests their system. Furhtermore, by using traffic shaping, ISP companies are able to give limited internet usage so that the network can be distributed widely among other customers worldwide.

Reference

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