'Broadband Hogs' Myth Throttles Users

BROADBAND providers exploit the myth of so-called 'broadband hogs' to justify harsh traffic shaping policies and mask underinvestment in broadband infrastructure, broadband analysts have claimed.

Mysterious 'broadband hogs'- or, as at least one UK-based broadband provider refers to them,'the top 5% of users'- are said to constantly download large amounts of data, often via peer-to-peer networks, streaming video or gaming services.

Nearly all UK broadband providers use the 'broadband hogs' model to justify applying fair usage policies which can seriously restrict the performance of users' broadband connections.

However, in a recent high profile article circulated around the broadband world, telecoms blogs Fiber Evolution and DadaMotive argued that this focus on the 'excessive' activities of a small number of users was unfounded.

Broadband congestion challenge

"Implemented well," the Fibre Evolutionarticle claimed, "[a broadband connection] should result in an equal distribution of available bandwidth in the operator's network between end-users; so the concept of a bandwidth hog is by definition an impossibility."

Fiber Evolution went on to challenge broadband providers to hand over usage data for external scrutiny hoping to prove that the activitiy of a small number of heavy users has little effect on the performance of the wider broadband network.

If shown to be true it may force broadband providers to rethink their approach towards what constitutes fair use or possibly even produce a shift in the marketing of 'unlimited' broadband products.

The fairest of the them all

Fair use policies, applied to keep heavy users in check, have in the past led to accusations that 'unlimited' broadband packages are being sold as one product but delivered as another due to the sometimes heavy restrictions placed on connections.

The policies aim to limit the impact of bandwidth hungry web activites like BBC iPlayer and discourage users from using peer-to-peer programs such as BitTorrent to share large files.

In the UK broadband market, few ISPs offer a truly unlimited broadband service: even famously lenient providers Be broadband and O2 broadband have a fair use policy.

In contrast to this, one of the UK's biggest broadband providers, Virgin Media has a traffic management policy which applies to nearly all of its products for eleven hours a day between 10am and 9pm with a one hour break, presumably for lunch, at 3pm.

Virgin states that the policy: "makes sure that the service doesn't get blocked up with people using more than their fair share." Although critics point out that those who have paid more for a faster service should be given a greater fair share.

Virgin Media treats an unusually large period of time as 'peak time' and it is a period which has fallen foul of angry customers who have posted videos on YouTube sharing their frustrations with the service.

The main criticism levelled at Virgin is that it is far too easy to fall foul of the set limits.

For example, a broadband customer using a Virgin Media 20Mb broadband connection and downloading more than 3.5Gb of data between 4 - 9pm is classed as a 'broadband hog' and will have their connection speed reduced by 75% for five hours.

A typical HD video via BBC iPlayer will use around 1.5Gb of bandwidth per hour which means after two hours the limit is reached and the connection speed reduced to 5Mbps.

Although 5Mbps should be sufficient to watch HD streams the controversy arises as the customer is paying for a service boldly advertised as 20Mbps with 'unlimited downloads'.

Does fair use have a future?

If current trends in online media consumption continue there will be a massive increase in the number of new users falling foul of fair use polices in the future.

There are signs of efforts to improve delivery of content - BT and Google have recently developed a broadband video delivery service for UK ISPs which aims to help reduce network congestion at busy times and cut bandwidth costs.

Whether this will improve things enough to enable providers to discard fair use policies remains to be seen.

In the meantime, smaller broadband providers such as Be Broadband or O2 will continue as well-known homes for those fed up with fair use policies interfering with broadband connections.

Back at Virgin Media customers paying for the flagship 50Mb broadband connection are free from restrictions proving that in the UK he who pays avoids the pitfall of being labelled a 'broadband hog'.

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