Traffic-Throttling Bell Canada Opens Video Store
The Canadian telecom has offered the service in beta for around one year. But, as points out, now was not the best time to launch the service.
Last month, several smaller Internet service providers filed a complaint with the Canadian authorities alleging that Bell Canada was wrongfully throttling traffic. Bell Canada serves as both a wholesaler and retailer, so some smaller Internet service providers that sell broadband connections to Web users purchase the lines from Bell Canada.
Yes, video sites can be bandwidth-hungry and potentially cause congestion. But when the same company that controls the pipes also sells online video, one has to wonder whose interests are really being served by throttling.
That same issue is playing out in the U.S. with Comcast, which offers online video and also throttles traffic to certain sites. Comcast said it sometimes slows visits to peer-to-peer sites to manage traffic on its network and also has vowed to develop "protocol-agnostic" techniques by the end of the year.
Meantime, however, it's increasingly clear that Internet service providers potentially gain anticompetitive advantages when they interfere with traffic. Lawmakers should step in and make clear that network providers can't discriminate, especially against their rivals, when managing traffic.
Recent Daily Online Examiner Articles
-
Aereokiller Agrees To Change Name May 20, 4:38 p.m.
Aereokiller, embroiled in litigation with the TV networks, is putting at least one legal dispute behind ...
-
Appeals Court Turns Away Twitter's Challenge To Subpoena May 17, 4:55 p.m.
An appellate court in New York has dismissed Twitter's appeal of a ruling requiring it to ...
-
Apple: No 'Direct Evidence' Of Ebook Price-Fixing May 16, 5:10 p.m.
Did Apple conspire with book publishers to end Amazon's $9.99-per-ebook price? That's the question at the ...
-
AT&T Stirs Controversy With Data-Cap Plans May 15, 5 p.m.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson reportedly confirmed today that the carrier plans to let content companies pay ...
-
Pandora User Seeks To Revive Privacy Lawsuit May 14, 4:48 p.m.
In 2010, music service Pandora was one of the first companies to partner with Facebook for ...
-
New Bill Legalizes Cell-Phone Unlocking, DVD Ripping May 13, 5:05 p.m.
Consumers could once again have the right to unlock their cell phones, if a new law ...
-
Data-Cap Exemption For ESPN Raises Neutrality Concerns May 10, 6:40 p.m.
The sports network ESPN reportedly is talking with a major wireless carrier about a deal to ...
-
Righthaven Loses Bid To Revive Lawsuits May 9, 6:20 p.m.
Several years ago, attorney Steven Gibson and the publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal cooked up ...
-
Appellate Judge Says Google Books Offers 'Enormous' Benefits May 8, 4:59 p.m.
The Authors Guild's odds of winning its long-running lawsuit against Google appear to be dwindling, at ...
-
FTC Tells Data Brokers To Follow Consumer Protection Laws May 7, 6:30 p.m.
In its latest move against data brokers, the Federal Trade Commission has warned 10 companies that ...
Be the first to comment on "Traffic-Throttling Bell Canada Opens Video Store "
Leave a Comment