Study: Cox Joins Comcast In Stalling Web Traffic

Cox screengrabComcast isn't the only Internet service provider throttling traffic to peer-to-peer sites. Cox Communications is also interfering with visits to such bandwidth-hungry sites, according to a study released Thursday by the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems in Germany.

The research center found that 62% of Comcast subscribers to participate in a study were blocked from file-sharing sites, while 54% of the Cox participants were blocked. Around 8,000 Web users participated in the test.

Cox Thursday acknowledged in a statement that it manages bandwidth-intensive applications. "Cox allows the use of file-sharing and peer-to-peer services for uploads and downloads, and we allow access to all legal content, but we must manage the traffic impact of peer-to-peer services, as most ISPs do for the benefit of the customer," a company spokesman stated. "We'll continue to seek even better ways to manage our network to ensure a high-quality experience for our customers."

The specific revelations about Cox appear to be new, but Comcast has been on the defensive for its traffic-shaping practices since last October, when The Associated Press revealed that a study it conducted showed the company was impeding visits to peer-to-peer sites. Comcast has steadfastly said it doesn't block people from reaching sites, but acknowledges it sometimes slows down traffic to manage its network.

A Comcast spokesperson Thursday reiterated that the company slows some peer-to-peer traffic to manage congestion but doesn't block any visits, and that the company will develop a protocol-agnostic traffic management strategy by the end of this year.

Net neutrality advocates and others filed complaints against Comcast with the Federal Communications Commission after the traffic-throttling came to light. Federal legislators including Rep. Ed. Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) recently proposed separate net neutrality bills.

Advocates renewed their call for federal intervention on Thursday. "This new study shows that the threat to the open Internet is not isolated to one company's network, but endangers access by a wide group of Internet consumers across the country," said Markham Erickson, executive director of the Open Internet Coalition, in a statement. "The danger is real, and requires firm action by the FCC in response to the pending Comcast complaint."

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