# Verizon Comments on ISP 'Traffic Shaping'



## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

In an interview with Tom Tauke, Verizon's executive vice president for public affairs, the N.Y. Times elicited a fairly wide ranging commentary on the state of ISP's.

The full article can be read here:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/verizon-rejects-hollywoods-call-to-aid-piracy-fight/

Of particular note, especially as folks here wonder about getting internet performance for DOD hampered due to actions taken by their ISP, is the following quote(s):

"Verizon is also wary of the sort of "traffic shaping" system adopted by Comcast that is apparently meant to slow down the exchange of files using the BitTorrent protocol, although the details aren't fully known.

It may be that what they did is appropriate. It may be it is inappropriate. Some have suggested that Comcast sent false signals to computers in order to have computers reject the BitTorrent session. If they are in essence altering data to alter the message, that again starts you down a path you don't want to go down.

Mr. Tauke added that Verizon may feel less pressure in this direction than others because it has already invested in its FiOS system that strings high-capacity fiber-optic cables to homes. And in any case, he said, the company won't mitigate its costs by trying to restrict what can be sent through its system.

"We don't want to solve any network congestion issues by restricting the flow of certain kinds of traffic," he said."

Of course, many of their older DSL systems don't have FiOS capacity to the home, but have the full capacity at the Central Offices, generally between 10-200Gb/s.


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