Cox Sparks Further Debate Over Internet Congestion
The so-called "Net Neutrality" issue is likely to heat up again after Cox Communications, the third-largest cable company in the U.S., announced on Tuesday it was exploring a new method to keep its subscribers’ Internet traffic from cluttering up, the Associated Press reported.
Beginning Feb. 9, Cox subscribers in parts of Kansas and Arkansas will soon be given priority to Internet traffic the company deems be time-sensitive, like Web pages, streaming video and online games.
Cox said file downloads, software updates and other non-time sensitive data may be slowed if there is congestion on the local network.
The move is sure to spark continued debate over "Net Neutrality," or the question of how much Internet service providers like Cox can interfere with subscriber traffic.
Last year, the Federal Communications Commission sanctioned Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable company, for its method of traffic management, which involved secretly stifling file sharing, a certain type of Internet traffic””marking the first time regulators were forced to address the issue.
Comcast has since discontinued its congestion management system in favor of one that doesn’t discriminate between different types of traffic and is currently challenging the FCC’s ruling in court. The cable company has also abandoned secrecy and revealed details on how the new system works.
Cox was found to be using the same discriminatory network management system that Comcast employed, according to tests conducted by the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems in Germany. Cox never revealed the details of its system but said it used "protocol filtering," a principle Comcast had employed.
The Max Planck Institute said further testing indicated that Cox drastically cut back on its use of the old congestion system in August, and by January had completely shut it down.
“The company began evaluating its old system after the FCC order on Comcast Cox,” said spokesman David Grabert.
Cox posted a message to subscribers saying: "This new technique is based on the time-sensitive nature of the Internet traffic itself, and we believe it will lead to a smoother Internet experience with fewer delays."
If the new technology proves successful in Kansas and Arkansas, Cox expects to apply it to all of its Internet subscribers later this year. Grabert said the company has 4 million subscribers, but that figure includes business users who would not be affected.
“We’re reserving judgment about Cox’s new system until there are more details on its workings. For instance, it’s unclear how the company will identify each type of traffic,” said Ben Scott, policy director at Free Press, one of the Washington-based consumer interest groups that complained to the FCC about Comcast.
"As a baseline, I’m uncomfortable with any network management system that doesn’t give the user the choice of how his traffic is treated," Scott said.
—
On the Net: