The truth about caps and shaping

[feo]

Who came up with that conclusion? I challenge that person to do their email, web browsing and internet banking for a month with a 40MB cap providing day to day bandwidth usage. This is not a rhetorical question or a statement but rather a genuine challenge for that person prove 40MB is enough for those activities as they claim. Unknowledgeable readers would, after reading that, assume it is enough which doesn’t do much to inform those readers.

Hehehehe I use up a couple hundred megs on an average day of internet use, P2P excluded.

 

[kilo39]

P2P is the bogeyman (similar to 'child porn.') Yes let's rip everybody off cause of the bogeyman (and censor and make life hell cause of 'child pornography.')

BTW I don't do P2P.

 

[Fudzy]

So basically, the problem with internet in South Africa is that we cannot pirate fast enough...

 

[emmanuel]

Read http://www.orange.co.uk/terms/7094.htm?linkfrom=terms_4945&link=link_7&article=termsofusenav ... how does this differ from local practice?

You can't be serious with this question. Their service is open to everyone, 8mbps unlimited + other features for 20 pounds per month. I can't believe you don't see the MASSIVE difference. Here in SA everyone is capped.

 

[brendon9x]

Misleading article re shaping.

Nice article, but I think shaping gets off the hook far too lightly, too often. The degree of shaping here is a mostly a South African phenomenon and I'd argue that it is detrimental to the South African Internet user and the economy. The damage is a result of unintended consequences in the war against P2P traffic. Unfortunately, the South African broadband experience is the victim while P2P traffic surges under the cockroach-like resilience of the BitTorrent protocol.

Let's pretend you're Telkom. You notice that 90% of the traffic on SAT3/SAFE is P2P traffic and its coming from 5% of the user base. Lets now pretend you take unilateral technical steps to try and reduce this for the benefit of your customers.

Step 1: Protocols

• Summary: It's 2002, so eMule and eDonkey are responsible for most of the P2P traffic. Since these predominantly use ports 4661-4669, it seems like a good idea to shape any traffic travelling on these ports. Surely this will work?
• Result: P2P traffic immediately drops off from 90% of SAT3 to 50%. Hooray. The boss has new Gulfstream private jet from the savings and you've got a new Telkom gold pen.
• Unintended consequences: Virtually none, unless this port range is used by some bespoke applications. Hardly anyone is harmed by this action but will it last?

Step 2: Port whitelist

• Summary: It's 2003. P2P has moved on. eDonkey and eMule are dying. Limewire is at its peak and a little known protocol called BitTorrent is just starting to make an impact. Tracking all these ports is becoming a problem. But hey, why should you keep track of this constantly shifting mess? Simply let HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, VPN, POP3 and IMAP through unshaped and slow down everything else.
• Result: P2P drops down from 90% to 80%. It didn't help this much this time as P2P programs are opening so many shaped connections as to negate the effect somewhat. Still, the boss managed to buy a new car and you got a pat on the back. You also develop a God complex having just made an executive decision on behalf of the entire South African public's Global Internet experience (And your mother said you'd amount to nothing. Ha!).
• Unintended consequences: Users are wondering why video feeds from BBC news are so choppy, why global Internet radio is so rubbish and why the Internet seems like its got a multiple personality disorder. But the porn still loads quickly so the lay public assume video, radio, VoIP and teleconferencing are slow because South Africa is far away and the electrons get jetlagged.

Step 3: Cripple VPN/encrypted content

• Summary: Its 2004 and some cheeky bastards are using encrypted VPN connections to the UK and the US to bypass all your draconian measures. You can't tell good VPN usage from bad. In fact, when a connection is encrypted, you really have no idea what's inside it (perhaps that's the point?). Determined not be outdone and hoping for a refill for your gold pen, you decide to cripple all encrypted content.
• Result: VPN traffic drops to zero on shaped accounts. Your shaping is so effective that it isn't even possible to sustain a connection to the UK for more than a few minutes. P2P traffic drops from 90% to 89%. The boss isn't talking to you anymore.
• Unintended consequences: Anyone doing support work for overseas clients is forced to upgrade to an unshaped account. Overseas businessmen who are used to logging into multinational headquarters find that it just doesn't work in hotels or Internet cafes as they all use shaped connections. International businessmen assume South Africa has crap Internet.

I doubt in most parts of the world that a shaped South African Internet connection would meet the definition of broadband. As only a narrow range of protocols are allowed through at full speed, you are experiencing the global Internet according to Telkom. VPN connections simply don't work outside SA. Most VoIP software doesn't work reliably (Skype is only tolerable at times because of its P2P nature). In effect, Telkom has provided South Africa with a very fast 1990s Internet experience.

Sadly, most people don't even know what they're missing. Only a few people who've been able to put up the cash for an unshaped connection actually know what everyone is missing. And what's worse is that Telkom gets to compare its shaped prices with the UK's unshaped packages claiming that the price gap is not all that bad. Its still a factor of 10 if you compare apples to apples.

To top it off, the only thing that isn't a victim of all this shaping is P2P traffic which, owing to its massively distributed, highly innovative design, has been largely unaffected by the very measures meant to stop it.

 

[voyt]

Bravo, brendon9x, brilliant! This will conclude our topic, I think. Nothing more to add and nothing more to say.

 

[R4tt3xx]

The problem is that there are not really any controls in place to really regulate the provision of Internet services in this country. The laws that are in place mean nothing if they are not adhered to. Give ICASA some teeth and the man in the street a decent set of expected standards that we can expect from our service providers, for example in the case of ADSL , NO 24 HOUR RESETS etc.

 

[Tns]

i'll still maintain if i paid for my gig i want to use to the fullest of my line speed. blaming p2p for the congestion isn't going to solve the problem

 

[Bobb]

Am i correct in saying that according to ICASA's broadband regulations shaping is not allowed at all?

 

[rpm]

Am i correct in saying that according to ICASA's broadband regulations shaping is not allowed at all?

Correct!

 

[voipnow]

Quote.
"There are various reasons for high monthly usage, including gaming, VoIP or file sharing, but all of these services are typically de-prioritized when operators start to employ traffic shaping policies."

I dont agree that VoiP is a reason for high volume. Depending on the codec voip may be using only 30k per call.

Shaping should be giving QoS to VoiP not making it worse.

The second point that is ignored is that the major part of P2P file sharing is illegal music & video sharing. Its illegal sharing that closed edonkey.

A local ISP who cashes illegal music files could possibly be prosecuted.
Why did this article completely ignore the important point.

I don't think much research was put into this article. It was just pumped out to fill a space.

 

[Roman4604]

You can't be serious with this question. Their service is open to everyone, 8mbps unlimited + other features for 20 pounds per month. I can't believe you don't see the MASSIVE difference. Here in SA everyone is capped.

Your missing the point; they strongly discourage the continuous use of P2P (i.e. limited unlimited) which is not too dissimilar from what happens here.

In fact they are so adamant that they say they will cut you off if you persist.

the only thing that isn't a victim of all this shaping is P2P traffic which, owing to its massively distributed, highly innovative design, has been largely unaffected by the very measures meant to stop it.

If this statement were true, the deluge of complaints on this forum would not exist.

 

[ld13]

Maybe DarkDenim is downloading things to the server (USA) and then downloading it from the server to his PC (SA).

I'm getting confused, already.

I use a little PHP script to download any file I want to download, to the server based in the US. The server pulls the file rather quickly (Typical speeds range from 200KB/s to 1000++KB/s) - Sometimes if the file is located near the server, speeds can reach the 100mbps mark. Then afterwards I can download the file to my PC using DAP/IDM and multiple connections from a server that has almost 0 load - that entails great speeds. You can even let the server download torrents for you using scripts like TorrentFlux. Works like a charm and makes my life easier for me.

 

[Abe]

But if a broadband provider only allows for a certain traffic allowance per month, and allocates adequate bandwidth on its network to accommodate all of its users, why the need to also impose traffic shaping to throttle P2P volumes? Surely consumers have paid for their bandwidth and they should be able to use it as they see fit.

From what I last read, some people have found a way to get around the throttling on iBurst which may also be a reason for the shaping.

 

[brendon9x]

If this statement were true, the deluge of complaints on this forum would not exist.

Oh I agree to a point. P2P does work a lot better on an unshaped account. In particular, the time it takes from starting a download to get to full speed is much quicker.

But, P2P is still possible and people tend to leave their torrents on all the time. They may not be fast, but eventually they get the job done.

Compare this to trying to establish a VPN connection abroad. Packet loss can get to 80% during the day. Any packet loss beyond 20% will totally scupper the connection. For video, audio and VOIP streaming, anything over 5% makes it unusable.

My point is that if P2P really is the intended target of shaping, then they haven't done a very good job. P2P is doing a lot better than a lot of other services which are frequently totally unusable on a shaped account.

 

[DarkDenim]

Maybe DarkDenim is downloading things to the server (USA) and then downloading it from the server to his PC (SA).

I'm getting confused, already.

That's correct. My server is running Win2003 so I remote desktop when I need to do something the torrent client (uTorrent with web GUI) doesn't.

I use my server for torrents and for FTP. Torrents are dead for me on iBurst and I get a max of 6Kb/s on FTP (I wonder why it's throttled).

 

[Abe]

My point is that if P2P really is the intended target of shaping, then they haven't done a very good job. P2P is doing a lot better than a lot of other services which are frequently totally unusable on a shaped account.

The question should rather be, what would the other services be like if shaping was disabled and P2P was allowed to go unchecked.

 

[Bobb]

Correct!

Then the entire subject is moot. Icasa must enforce their regulations, and the market must come up with the necessary bandwidth to support a decent service and actually supply what they sell!

I mean i can barely skype my brother in London on an uncapped IS acc on a 4meg line without hideous call quality... with the entire line at my disposal. On the other side of the connection my brother can dowload at 1.7mB/s and it barely affects the call quality...

 

[StrontiumDog]

Read http://www.orange.co.uk/terms/7094.htm?linkfrom=terms_4945&link=link_7&article=termsofusenav ... how does this differ from local practice?

Well I'm guessing they don't have 3gb caps and they have something like 8mbit lines on average?

[Edit:]
Will we ever see the minimum ADSL speeds pushed up to 1mbps or even 4mbps?
384kbps sucks!! Damn u Telskum!!

 

[Roman4604]

Well I'm guessing they don't have 3gb caps and they have something like 8mbit lines on average?

Not disputing that, was pointing out fair usage policies or "what consitutes abusive activity/traffic" are no different overseas than here.