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warning: this is not a surprise

Canadian ISP Admits to Throttling WoW

by Max Eddy | 4:42 pm, March 28th, 2011

Canadian Internet service provider Rogers has admitted that the software it uses to detect peer-to-peer file sharing was inadvertantly identifying online games such as World of Warcarft and limited the bandwidth of such users. Ars Technica is quoting a company representative with Rogers as saying:

Our tests have determined that there is a problem with our traffic management equipment that can interfere with World of Warcraft [...] We have been in contact with the game manufacturer and we have been working with our equipment supplier to overcome this problem.

But Rogers’ claim that this was a purely innocent mistake may not hold water. This bandwidth “throttling” was noticed by Canadian gamer Teresa Murphy who wrote a very well-researched letter to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, who in turn ordered an investigation into the matter. In her letter, Murphy maintains that Roger’s arguments are highly specious:

Rogers employees on their own forums have been stating that these games use P2P to run, which is why they’re being throttled, and that the game manufacturer needs to change the game. Add to this, Rogers employees have been telling us gamers to disable any P2P, wait 10 minutes, and try the game again. (For the record, these games do NOT use P2P, never have and never will.) I see this as a CLEAR indication that they’re knowingly throttling up/down stream of the entire connection while P2P is active, whether it really IS active, or they just think it is.

This is a thorny issue, certainly. In an effort to curb illegal filesharing, ISPs have pushed for greater control over their user’s online activities. But Murphy concludes her letter with a succinct argument that’s hard to disagree with: “It’s not fair that Rogers customers are paying for a service they can’t even use.”

(via Ars Technica)

  • dissentience

    I have been affected by this, and needless to say, it’s a giant pain in the ass. Apparently they’re fixing it “by June.” We’ll see.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EA2SKZ6WUUDXCOHNJJUOJNMCQU griezz

    Another thing to consider is that what Rogers is doing is attacking people who use P2P for file sharing, not using it for illegal file sharing. Because they cannot immediately tell the difference between a “legal” use and an “illegal” use, they seek to interfere with all P2P activities. That is like the government not knowing whether the wrapped package in the mail is a gift or a bomb, so it forbids all wrapped packages. Doing that is completely ludicrous.

  • http://twitter.com/RogersElise Elise Ondet

    Hi there.

    I am Elise with Rogers.

    We have been investigating issues related to World of Warcraft (WoW) since it’s been brought to our attention. What we know today is that there is a problem with our traffic management equipment that is inadvertently slowing the game for some customers. While we have fixed some issues with a software modification, new problems have emerged that we expect will be addressed with a second software update in June.

    We believe the problem occurs when P2P is running while simultaneously playing the game. If you are experiencing problems we suggest you turn off the peer to peer setting within the WoW game and ensure no other P2P file sharing applications are running while playing WoW. WoW does use P2P for software updates, but with this setting changed you should continue to automatically receive software updates through other methods.

    This is only a temporary solution. We continue to work closely with the game manufacturer and our equipment supplier to help resolve this issue as soon as possible.

    We want to thank our customers for their patience while we are working on this.


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