Cox To Adopt Comcast Internet Network Practices

By: Rob Adams
Staff Writer
Published: Jan 28, 2009

Cox Communications announced on Tuesday it will initiate a new network management system that is similar to Comcast. The broadband Internet Service Provider plans to throttle P2P traffic but gives little indication on how it will impact Internet users.

Cox Communications Inc announced on Tuesday it will initiate a new network management system that is similar to Comcast. The broadband Internet Service Provider plans to limit P2P traffic but gives little warning on how it will impact Internet users. What we do know is the ISP will not throttle Web pages, voice calls, streaming videos or gaming.

"Less time-sensitive traffic, such as file uploads, peer-to-peer and Usenet newsgroups, may be delayed momentarily – but only when the local network is congested. Our goal is to ensure that customers continue to experience the consistently fast, reliable Internet service they've come to expect from Cox," Cox said on its Web site.

Comcast was suspect of blocking access to lawful online peer-to-peer file sharing and eventually faced criticism from the FCC. However, bandwidth throttling is not a block, but will reduce Internet speeds for services such as peer-to-peer (P2P) and other traffic that fall into the same category. Cox said the Internet throttling will only occur when its network is congested.

"Congestion will occasionally occur on any network when many people are using the network at the same time, or they are engaging in activities that use a large amount of bandwidth," Cox said.

Cox's plan is to minimize congestion by throttling traffic on services such as FTP uploading and P2P. This will only occur if congestion reaches a certain level. The cable provider says they are taking this action so that other services which customers use will continue to have a good experience.

The problem that most Internet P2P or FTP upload users find in this new approach is that they are customers too. Should they have a bad experience because their services are "time-sensitive" for Cox's network?

Cox did write on its Web site, "Most likely, you won't notice any effect at all, although we hope this trial results in an even smoother Internet experience with fewer delays," however that does not include customers who are using the FTP upload or file-sharing services.

Internet Service Providers that offer broadband do have a point that time-sensitive traffic does cost money. However, it's not quite understood why ISP's are starting to accept this idea that is already hurting Comcast. If the reason wasn't over money, perhaps it would be a campaign to encourage users not to use P2P so it could save energy and the environment.

Tests for the new network management program will begin in February.