Avalon said:
Traffic shaping/port throttling wasn't ever part of the plan pre merger and it seems strange that only a few users in certain area's are reporting this. NTL and TW and every other ISP have always had fluctuations normally due to the ebb and flow of traffic on the uk backbone structure but normally only for short periods.
If this was being tested it would be on a pre approved group in one franchise area and they'd know about it well in advance! Also the idea that the BBI provisioning systems are unified and 'working together' at this stage couldn't be further from the truth.
This was posted on a ntl forum by a ntl employee which indicates that traffic shaping was their plain pre merger...
There have been rumours circulating for the last few days on Cable Forum regarding Traffic Shaping being implemented on ntl’s broadband services, and numerous customers have been reporting slow connections without any prior explanation or reason.
As with the implementation of broadband download caps back in February 2003, ntl have quietly slipped the relevant Traffic Shaping clause into their User Policy (section 20). In February 2003, ntl:home MD at the time, Aizad Hussain, admitted that the cap was “poorly communicated,” and unfortunately it would appear that lessons were not learnt from this exercise. You can read the relevant section from the User Policy below, which Cable Forum member Toto spotted:
In addition, we reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to manage all traffic and traffic types on our data network to ensure a consistent and optimal service for all our Broadband customers. At peak times (normally 6pm to 11pm), we may therefore limit the bandwidth available to less time-sensitive traffic types, in particular peer to peer traffic, or in extreme circumstances, where network congestion leads to potential denial of service for some customers, to reduce bandwidth allocations at an individual or a network level, in order to maintain a consistent quality of service for all customers. These restrictions do not apply outside of peak hours.
Whether traffic shaping has already been implemented is still unclear, but early reports on the forum would indicate that it has been, at least in some areas between 6pm and 11pm.
