A recent study suggested that multiple broadband network operators in the U.S. could be throttling peer-to-peer network traffic. Now, a new study by the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems reports that its own testing revealed that about 7.7% of 8,175 Internet hosts worldwide reported having BitTorrent traffic throttled, but that 87.8% of the affected hosts were in the U.S. and the "vast majority" of them were on the networks of Comcast or Cox Communications. All affected host were on networks run by cable TV companies, though that is not terribly surprising in and of itself.
Cox, accused of throttling directly for the first time, said its only conducts "reasonable" network management practices. Comcast has said that it will come up with a network management alternative to traffic-shaping, but as the studies and reports of slow network experience mount, other network operators will be forced to address the situation, and claims amounting to "that's how we manage the network" have not been flying so well.
For more:
- read this report at Network World
Related articles:
- Comcast and BitTorrent have said they are collaborating on solutions to throttling. Comcast report
- BitTorrent last month seemed to be following its own path toward solutions BitTorrent report