The CRTC has ruled against a complaint brought forth by the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP), allowing Bell to continue its policy of throttling bittorrent and other file-sharing
connections over its network.
Last month CAIP (a loosely organised group comprised of smaller internet providers across Canada) appealed to the CRTC for temporary relief after Bell started throttling the traffic of their customers. Bell owns all the phone lines, and because the smaller providers lease lines from them to resell to their customers, Bell is left with the ability to control almost all DSL traffic, regardless of the service provider.
The CAIP complaint alleged that Bell's traffic "shaping" polices are illegal that if someone pays for internet service they should able to use it however they please without penalty and was calling for a stop order on the practice.
While the CRTC reserves the right to make a further ruling down the road, the CAIP cease and desist request was denied on the grounds that there was not enough evidence to indicate the CAIP members would suffer "irreparable harm" as a result of Bell's throttling.
The CRTC did acknowledge that throttling was "a serious issue," however, so it is unlikely that this is the end of the story: tomorrow (May 15) the regulatory body is expected to issue a statement outlining a process by which a final decision on the matter will be reached.
Last month CAIP (a loosely organised group comprised of smaller internet providers across Canada) appealed to the CRTC for temporary relief after Bell started throttling the traffic of their customers. Bell owns all the phone lines, and because the smaller providers lease lines from them to resell to their customers, Bell is left with the ability to control almost all DSL traffic, regardless of the service provider.
The CAIP complaint alleged that Bell's traffic "shaping" polices are illegal that if someone pays for internet service they should able to use it however they please without penalty and was calling for a stop order on the practice.
While the CRTC reserves the right to make a further ruling down the road, the CAIP cease and desist request was denied on the grounds that there was not enough evidence to indicate the CAIP members would suffer "irreparable harm" as a result of Bell's throttling.
The CRTC did acknowledge that throttling was "a serious issue," however, so it is unlikely that this is the end of the story: tomorrow (May 15) the regulatory body is expected to issue a statement outlining a process by which a final decision on the matter will be reached.