OMEN
01-27-2008, 05:00 PM
CallPlus has upped the ante in the cold war between Internet service providers and peer-to-peer file sharing services that threaten to slow down web surfing.
The junior telco has invested in Cisco equipment that will let it "throttle" the bandwidth available for BitTorrent traffic, sources say.
It is estimated that 60 to 90 per cent of all Internet traffic is now made up of videos, TV shows, music and software that is stored on people's PCs and shared around the world using peer-to-peer services, of which BitTorrent - with 160 million registered users - is the most popular.
CallPlus chief executive Martin Wylie says the company is "always trying to manage the experience of all customers as best we can".
He would not comment further, saying it was a sensitive issue. "This is a subject where I'm damned if I do, and damned if I don't."
Matthew Moore, an engineer at multinational F5 which sells network management systems to ISPs, says peer-to-peer services provide an efficient way to distribute files between computer users, but most material shared is pirated.
Throttling peer-to-peer traffic is increasingly common overseas and has prompted mixed reactions.
The United States Federal Communications Commission began investigating US Internet service provider Comcast this month, following complaints from consumer groups that it was blocking access to BitTorrent.
A lawsuit, lodged in November, argues that the practice undermines the principle of "Net neutrality" - held dear by the Internet community and endorsed by the FCC - which says all Internet traffic should be treated equally by carriers.
One BitTorrent user in Wellington said throttling was a retrograde step that would result in an "arms race" as peer-to-peer services learnt how to better disguise their traffic. "No-one wins this. It is a waste of energy that ends up costing everybody money."
But Mr Moore says the growing popularity of peer-to-peer services has eroded the experience of web browsing for many people over the past two years and ISPs should not be afraid to say they are taking action.
"I'd rather see the policing of BitTorrent and peer-to-peer so the average person, which is probably 90 per cent of Internet users, can browse the Internet effectively."
InternetNZ executive director Keith Davidson says ISPs should be upfront about what they are doing to manage traffic.
"An ISP probably has a responsibility to what it sees as its average customer, and a few users screwing the system can be seen as a bad thing."
The need to manage traffic would disappear if everyone had high-speed fibre-optic connections and a choice of Internet providers that catered for different types of users, he says.
Mark Rushworth, chief executive of Vodafone-owned ISP ihug, says peer-to-peer services were once the preserve of tech-savvy Internet users but new services such as LimeWire that are easier to use have encouraged take-up by the mass-market.
"Peer-to-peer and people embracing video makes it harder for ISPs to have flat-rate `all you can eat' plans."
Late last year, ihug began caching files that were regularly shared through peer-to-peer networks on its own servers in New Zealand, supplied by US firm CacheLogic, he says.
"From what we are seeing, it does help cut international bandwidth costs and it improves performance."
Mr Moore says caching can make files faster to download and means ISPs need not pay for international bandwidth each time a file is shared, but they risk being held liable for hosting pirated movies, music and software.
Orcon prioritises regular web-browsing, e-mail and Internet phone calls when allocating international bandwidth but says it has stopped short of throttling peer-to-peer traffic.
Telecom spokesman Nick Brown says Telecom only tries to manage peer-to-peer traffic on its Go Large plan and only at peak times. "This is done to ensure our network performs as effectively and efficiently as possible for the majority of our customers."
The Dominion Post
The junior telco has invested in Cisco equipment that will let it "throttle" the bandwidth available for BitTorrent traffic, sources say.
It is estimated that 60 to 90 per cent of all Internet traffic is now made up of videos, TV shows, music and software that is stored on people's PCs and shared around the world using peer-to-peer services, of which BitTorrent - with 160 million registered users - is the most popular.
CallPlus chief executive Martin Wylie says the company is "always trying to manage the experience of all customers as best we can".
He would not comment further, saying it was a sensitive issue. "This is a subject where I'm damned if I do, and damned if I don't."
Matthew Moore, an engineer at multinational F5 which sells network management systems to ISPs, says peer-to-peer services provide an efficient way to distribute files between computer users, but most material shared is pirated.
Throttling peer-to-peer traffic is increasingly common overseas and has prompted mixed reactions.
The United States Federal Communications Commission began investigating US Internet service provider Comcast this month, following complaints from consumer groups that it was blocking access to BitTorrent.
A lawsuit, lodged in November, argues that the practice undermines the principle of "Net neutrality" - held dear by the Internet community and endorsed by the FCC - which says all Internet traffic should be treated equally by carriers.
One BitTorrent user in Wellington said throttling was a retrograde step that would result in an "arms race" as peer-to-peer services learnt how to better disguise their traffic. "No-one wins this. It is a waste of energy that ends up costing everybody money."
But Mr Moore says the growing popularity of peer-to-peer services has eroded the experience of web browsing for many people over the past two years and ISPs should not be afraid to say they are taking action.
"I'd rather see the policing of BitTorrent and peer-to-peer so the average person, which is probably 90 per cent of Internet users, can browse the Internet effectively."
InternetNZ executive director Keith Davidson says ISPs should be upfront about what they are doing to manage traffic.
"An ISP probably has a responsibility to what it sees as its average customer, and a few users screwing the system can be seen as a bad thing."
The need to manage traffic would disappear if everyone had high-speed fibre-optic connections and a choice of Internet providers that catered for different types of users, he says.
Mark Rushworth, chief executive of Vodafone-owned ISP ihug, says peer-to-peer services were once the preserve of tech-savvy Internet users but new services such as LimeWire that are easier to use have encouraged take-up by the mass-market.
"Peer-to-peer and people embracing video makes it harder for ISPs to have flat-rate `all you can eat' plans."
Late last year, ihug began caching files that were regularly shared through peer-to-peer networks on its own servers in New Zealand, supplied by US firm CacheLogic, he says.
"From what we are seeing, it does help cut international bandwidth costs and it improves performance."
Mr Moore says caching can make files faster to download and means ISPs need not pay for international bandwidth each time a file is shared, but they risk being held liable for hosting pirated movies, music and software.
Orcon prioritises regular web-browsing, e-mail and Internet phone calls when allocating international bandwidth but says it has stopped short of throttling peer-to-peer traffic.
Telecom spokesman Nick Brown says Telecom only tries to manage peer-to-peer traffic on its Go Large plan and only at peak times. "This is done to ensure our network performs as effectively and efficiently as possible for the majority of our customers."
The Dominion Post