Rogers to limit `free' Internet

[tss]

Rogers официально отменит "unlimited" доступ к интернет и будету требовать плату за превышение траффика. Shaw следующий?

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/419741

Rogers to limit `free' Internet

Pricing that depended on speed will now add consumption to mix, cable executives say

Apr 30, 2008 04:30 AM

Some of Rogers' heaviest Internet users could soon be reaching for their wallets before they download "free" movies or video games from file-sharing websites such as BitTorrent.

Executives at Rogers Communications Inc. said yesterday the cable giant is moving toward a utility-type model where the user pays based on the amount of broadband capacity consumed.

It's argued that such an approach will help ensure Rogers' network isn't clogged by a small number of users who have a voracious appetite for broadband capacity.

"I believe this will be the first time that this has been done in North America," said Ted Rogers, the company's CEO, during a meeting with reporters yesterday.

Rogers has already introduced usage caps on its various tiers of home Internet service, which have traditionally been priced in Canada as all-you-can eat services, albeit with varying levels of download speeds. Exceeding the caps will trigger extra charges.

Subscribers can monitor their Internet use on Rogers' website and will be sent messages when they are approaching their monthly limits. Rogers is rolling out a system that will place alerts directly on the Web page a subscriber is viewing.

"Historically, pricing on wireline Internet has been based on speed," said Nadir Mohamed, chief operating officer of Rogers' communications division. "Now it will be based on speed and usage."

However, Mohamed said the company would still engage in the controversial practice of "throttling" or "shaping" traffic on its network in order to relieve congestion during peak hours. That's accomplished by using special software to sniff out bandwidth-hungry applications such as peer-to-peer services and steer the data into the equivalent of an Internet slow lane.

Critics charge such practices violate the concept of "net neutrality," or the idea that all traffic on the Internet should be treated equally. They claim that giving certain types of Internet traffic preference - either by slowing it down or forcing users to pay extra - could stifle innovation on the Web.

The issue was recently put before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission after a group representing several smaller Internet Service Providers complained Bell Canada Inc. was expanding its "traffic shaping" policy from its own retail service to include its wholesale ISP customers.

Bell, however, said it had no choice but to implement the change, claiming 95 per cent of its subscribers were at risk of seeing their service deteriorate because of the surfing habits of the other 5 per cent.