The ink on the rules on net neutrality in the US has barely dried but the first complaint has already been lodged. And guess who is the offender? Yes, it is none other than Time Warner Cable.
According to the complaint lodged by Commercial Network Services (CNS), a streaming company, TWC has violated the rules in the net neutrality handbook, specifically its “no paid prioritization” and “no throttling” sections.
In its complaint, the company said TWC only gives it access to congested traffic routes and refuses to deliver its content through low-latency connections unless it pays up. CNS manages a number of webcams and also services high-frequency traders in the US. Under the circumstances, a solid, low-latency internet pipe is a must-have, but CNS claims TWC is only offering it access to congested, high-latency links unless it pays extra.
“TWC is acting as gatekeeper and degrading our ability to exercise free expression,” CNS’s CEO Barry Bahrami writes in the complaint. “TWC’s management policy is restricting the open exchange of Internet traffic.” “By requiring any payment to peer at a common public internet exchange (a management policy), TWC is violating the No Paid Prioritization rule thru the creation of a paid fast lane to Broadband Internet Access Service (BIAS) subscribers on their network by way of their peering policy.”
Bahrami cites three cases of such behaviour by TWC in his complaint. His company sought direct connections to three common public internet exchanges: Any2 Los Angeles, NYIIX, and Equinix NYC. In each case, he said, TWC refused a direct peer connection and instead offered “a commercial transit arrangement that will provide you with a functionally equivalent solution.”
In its rebuttal, Time Warner states that its behavior is consistent with industry standards and that it’s confident the FCC will reject Bahrami’s claims. While it concedes that TWC does have free arrangements with operators “who exchange high volumes of traffic at multiple locations and where there is a mutual exchange of value,” CNS, unfortunately, doesn’t quality for the same deal.
“TWC’s interconnection practices are not only ‘just and reasonable’ as required by the FCC, but consistent with the practices of all major ISPs and well-established industry standards. We are confident that the FCC will reject any complaint that is premised on the notion that every edge provider around the globe is entitled to enter into a settlement-free peering arrangement.” TWC said in its statement.
You can read the full complaint here and decide for yourself who’s in the right or wrong before the FCC decides what to do about the situation.
Source: The Register
