Claims by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that traffic management or “throttling” is necessary to avoid congestion is not supported by their own figures.
The CRTC had ordered 10 ISPs including Bell Canada Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., and Shaw Communications Inc. to provide information on the volume and nature of traffic on their networks following a request from the Canadian Association of Internet Providers and consumer groups.
The information is intended to back up ISP claims that throttling is necessary during peak hours.
But according to the CBC, ISP figures reveal that the annual growth in overall traffic volume declined for two consecutive years from 2005-06 to 2007-08 for five out of seven ISPs.
Steve Anderson, co-founder of the net neutrality advocacy group SaveOurNet.ca, said the ISP data “significantly undermines” the argument made by the ISPs that they need to manage networks in order to prevent congestion.
“If traffic growth is slowing, then it is hard to imagine why the ISPs need to suddenly selectively throttle internet traffic. The fact that ISPs are slowing access to internet technologies that compete with their own services seems like more than just a coincidence,” Anderson said in a news release.
Because the ISPs only submitted the data to the CRTC on February 4, the deadline for public input had to be pushed back to February 23. The extension was granted so consumer groups would have enough time to examine and respond to the information provided by the ISPs. The hearings will take place in July.
The fight to preserve net neutrality, already well under way in the United States, picked up steam in Canada last spring when it emerged that Bell and other ISPs had been slowing the service of people who share files on networks like BitTorrent, Gnutella and Lime Wire for more than a year. This mostly affects peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic which is used to transmit large files, such as movies.
Critics say this practice jeopardizes net neutrality, the principle that ensures a free and open internet without discrimination.
An outcry erupted last March when Bell said it would “shape” traffic on the networks it sells to third party ISPs. Dozens of small ISPs buy bandwidth from Bell and resell it to businesses and consumers who want high-speed, high-capacity service.
Last November, in a hearing over whether Bell was discriminating against smaller wholesale companies by slowing internet speed, the CRTC ruled in favour of Bell but did not address net neutrality.
Canadians can send their comments to the CRTC at http://saveournet.ca/content/take-action
