Prentice mum on ISP throddling debate

[cacruden]

Prentice mum on ISP throddling debate

MATT HARTLEY
Globe and Mail Update
April 2, 2008 at 9:33 PM EDT
Industry Minister Jim Prentice refused to be drawn into the simmering net neutrality debate yesterday, sidestepping questions about the government's stance on practices employed by Canadian Internet service providers that restrict the flow of certain types of Internet data.

NDP MP Charlie Angus raised the issue during question period in the House of Commons on Wednesday, asking the minister what the government was doing to monitor the debate over when it should be permissible for telecom companies to regulate or “shape†the flow of traffic on their networks.

“What steps will the Minister of Industry take to ensure that consumers who paid for access are not going to be ripped, that badly needed competition will not be squeezed off, and send a message to the telecom giants that they have no business monkey wrenching with the free flow of information?†he said.

Mr. Prentice said the government was monitoring the situation and waiting to see how the issue unfolds.

....

 

[299 bloor call control.]

in other words -- they don't care.

 

[billonlogan]

in other words -- they don't care.

exactly... Mr. Prentice said the government was monitoring the situation and waiting to see how the issue unfolds.

Not a very pressing issue, except for a few who mostly download illegal movies off the net.

 

[cacruden]

I don't download a huge amount, and rarely (i.e. once every 6 months - for downloading Linux) do I use bitorrent.

BUT it affects me. Throttling affects encrypted and other traffic, it has affected Skype (lower voice quality), it has affected my Remote desktop into work. Once you get use to lower quality - you don't realize it - you just think it is normal.

 

[cacruden]

This is the beginning of them trying to wipe out any competition OTHER than Rogers and Bell (currently that means wiping out 100s of small businesses).

 

[wonderboy416]

They better no be shaping Acanac's traffic anytime soon.

Disgusting to see our gov't do nothing about it.

 

[cacruden]

They better no be shaping Acanac's traffic anytime soon.

Disgusting to see our gov't do nothing about it.

Bell is throttling ALL third party ISPs, and that includes Acanac.

 

[MetroMan]

Other tech will eventually take over such as next generation satellites with broadband upload/download speeds.

Rogers and Bell won't know what hit them.

I'm pissed as hell at Rogers for dragging their feet on the iPhone. Third world nations are getting it before us for Christ's sake! No GSM competition in Canada sucks.

I cancelled all my Rogers services except for highspeed internet and my blackberry. Once I find a solution for high speed internet, Rogers is getting the boot.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

what ever happened with broadband over power lines?

 

[cacruden]

Probably won't happen.

Toronto Hydro has a sub called Toronto Hydro Telecom, and has an extensive fibre around Toronto .... and it looks like that will be sold to either Rogers or Bell - so that won't help competition at all.....

 

[cacruden]

BTW, Rogers is in the process of compressing more HD channels into the current HD bandwidth so the picture quality on existing HD channels will suffer. Isn't the lack of real competition wonderful!

 

[wonderboy416]

BTW, Rogers is in the process of compressing more HD channels into the current HD bandwidth so the picture quality on existing HD channels will suffer. Isn't the lack of real competition wonderful!

I imagine Rogers cs reps are going to play dumb on this one. I plan on playing dumb too, I will call and tell them how my HD signal has a problem as the picture is very muddy and full of macro blocks and insist that they send a tech out to fix it or send me a new box. Lets see how honest they are with their customers.

Comcast got blasted for doing this same crap in the States. What's ironic is that the extra HD channels are most likely going to be part of the HD pack, yes, you have to pay Rogers MORE for the channels THEY added that degrade YOUR signal, aren't they wonderful people?

 

[299 bloor call control.]

Go on eBay and look for HD Tuners if you don't have one in your TV already... they've been gaining in popularity since the US announced the phase out of analogue over-the-air signals. Hook it up to an antenna if you don't have a good sightline of the CN Tower and boom, you have free HDTV that is above and beyond the quality you'll get through Rogers, as it's the non-compressed full HD signal.

It's bullshit how Rogers continues to make money selling "new" technologies that they themselves are keeping from the full potential, all to make MORE money.

 

[cacruden]

Rogers Cable set to begin compressing HD Signals
Thursday, 03 April 2008

In news that is sure to instill anger among Canadian high definition television lovers, Digital Home Canada has learned that effective April 9th, Rogers Cable will begin compressing the high definition (HD) television signals it sends out to its Rogers Personal TV customers.

In a technical briefing sent out by Rogers Network Engineering and Operations that was passed on to Digital Home Canada, the company said it would begin compressing parts of its high definition line-up in order to deliver more HD channels without having to use more bandwidth.


Channels on the Rogers Digital Cable system facing compression include:

* HD PBS Buffalo
* HD WGN
* HD The Score
* HD Showcase
* HD National Geographic
* HD Mpix
* HD Discovery
* HD MORE
* HD TMN
* HD NBC Seattle
* HD SUN
* HD RAP
* HDA&E
* HDCNN
* HDNET


Channels not on the list include the big American network feeds and Canadian networks such as CTV, CBC, Global and specialty sports station TSN. No mention is why some popular stations such as PBS and HD Discovery are going face compression, while stations like CTV and Global, which duplicate much of the U.S. primetime schedule are left unaffected.

 

[cacruden]

For these channels, where there were 2 channels - there will now be 3 - that should not affect picture quality that much