Comcast has released details to U.S. regulators about how it will manage traffic on its high speed Internet network.
“As we previously announced in March, we are changing the way we manage network congestion by the end of this year. The new technique does not manage congestion based on the protocol or application a consumer uses,” Comcast said in a statement.
“This new technique will ensure that all customers get their fair share of bandwidth every hour of the day. As we roll out these new practices, we’ll make sure our customers are fully informed.”
The announcement comes after the Federal Communications Commission voted to uphold a complaint that Comcast had violated open Internet principles by throttling peer-to-peer traffic.
Comcast said it will use software on its network to flag subscriber’s accounts that are using the largest amounts of bandwidth and their Internet traffic will be temporally managed until the congestion passes.
Managed subscribers may experience longer times to download or upload files, surfing the web may be slower, and playing games online could also be sluggish. Comcast says that on average less than 1 percent of its high speed Internet subscribers will be affected by its congestion management technique.
Subscriber traffic is congestion-managed not based on their applications, but based on current network conditions and recent bytes transferred by users.
Comcast said its congestion management will change over time as it continues to evaluate its practices.
