May 14, 2008 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — The Canadian Radio-Television Commission chose Wednesday to allow Bell Canada (bell.ca) to continue regulating the levels of service it provides to different types of traffic on the wholesale network it provides to smaller Canadian ISPs, while it reaches a final decision about the question.
Last month, the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, on behalf of these smaller providers, issued a complaint to the CRTC, asking the group to stop Bell from “traffic shaping,” calling the practice illegal. The CAIP alleged that the practice was part of a larger plan by Bell to eventually implement a tiered system of pricing for Internet service.
The debate is essentially similar to the so-called “net neutrality” question being debated by the Federal Trade Commission in the US.
Bell Canada and Rogers, Canada’s other major Internet carrier, both use traffic shaping practices to manage the load on their networks. Practically speaking, the practice involves slowing down or limiting the bandwidth available to certain types of traffic, such as peer-to-peer and torrent traffic, that tend to be major drains on network capacity and can cause other traffic to perform poorly.
The CRTC will reportedly issue a letter on Thursday outlining the factors it considered in reaching its decision.
Before it can issue a cease and desist order, the CRTC has to believe there is a “serious issue” to be determined, and that the group seeking the order will suffer irreparable damage if it is not granted.
In the case of Bell throttling traffic, the CRTC said the policy did present a serious issue, but that the CAIP did not provide sufficient evidence that its members would suffer irreparable harm as a result.
