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We don't shape. We've heard that statement time and time again from ISPs during the "discussions" around Net Neutrality on both sides of the border.
For those of us that work in technology supporting clients in various regions around the world the reality is quite different.
How many of us have been stuck where a client is unable to reach a resource via point-to-point because a hop in between the two sites happened to belong to a competing Internet infrastructure provider that just happened to be in the middle of a spat with the provider at both ends?
How many of us have experienced quality degradation in services we access on the Internet that reside outside our ISP's borders and the ISP just happened to provide a similar _paid_ service?
Unfortunately for us the Internet and its infrastructure is not treated in the same way as our public road systems.
That means that the IPSs have the upper hand. They control what packets go where. They control how fast those packets get from point to point. And, it all remains hidden.
They can 401 their own service's packets (the 401 is a high speed high-volume highway here in Canada) while they restrict packets destined for YouTube, Netflix, and others to 80KM/H or sideline them on a two lane low speed highway.
We here pay quite high prices for our "high speed" access. Our connections are shaped and have quotas assigned to them. We've grown accustomed to this practice however we still have fairly open access to most sites.
The Sad Direction We Are Going In
At some point our regulators need to have ISPs clarify their shaping policies like ingredients in food.
Or, our ISPs could offer "streaming" plans and the like that more than likely will be a lot more expensive but allow the end user to be free to view whatever content they choose with little to no shaping.
Whether either happens will be left to be seen. In the end we lose out.
ISPs have been crying for a piece of the pie for years, now they will get it and more as they hold keys to the kingdom.
Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business
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