14 DAY TRIAL // Comcast, the biggest US Internet provider, announced that it would change its policy regarding the management of its total bandwidth. In the past, the company had been accused of restricting or slowing down the connection for several file sharing programs. This affected users of P2P networks, which had problems whenever people wanted to either download or upload content.
The decision Comcast took was that it would slow down the access of the heaviest Internet users in its network for 10 up to 20 minutes, in order to regulate the total traffic. Until the actions of the company regarding P2P network users were discovered, Comcast was application-focused, meaning that the Internet provider was choosing to restrict access for the people who used only certain programs. From now on, since that approach has been intensely criticized, Comcast will have to detect the particular persons who cause network failures and slow down their connection until the situation becomes manageable.
Comcast's decision to modify its restrictions system, by identifying users who are directly responsible and thus ceasing to tax all subscribers for its own inability to provide for them in a fair manner, came as a response to a letter sent by the authorities. The Federal Communications Commission asked Comcast to find a solution for the crisis and to employ it by the end of the year. The commission decided to take action when Comcast started to claim, although fingers were pointed at its conduct, that slowing down file sharing networks was the only way to keep the system functional.
"Although Comcast asserts that its conduct is necessary to ease network congestion, we conclude that the company's discriminatory and arbitrary practice unduly squelches the dynamic benefits of an open and accessible Internet and does not constitute reasonable network management. Moreover, Comcast's failure to disclose the company's practice to its customers has compounded the harm. Accordingly, we institute a plan that will bring Comcast's unreasonable conduct to an end." said the federal institution in an order released yesterday.