Noah Pepper over at Public Knowledge lays it out pretty well on the whole issue about network congestion and bandwidth caps. So without further adieu –

For example, lets assume we study two users on the network, lets call them Alice and Bob. Both are on the same service plan and network, which allow them 5mbps normally, but the network gets congested during peak hours (5pm - 11pm) allowing a user to use at most 2mbps. Alice gets online at 2 am and starts downloading large files, maxing out her internet connection until the next day at 2 pm. Bob gets home from work at 5 and hops online to watch streaming videos until he goes to sleep at 11pm, using only 1mbps. At the end of a month Alice will have downloaded a huge amount of data and doubtless be tagged as bandwidth hog, yet contributed nothing to the congestion problem. Bob will be considered a normal user at the end of the marking period - but has a far more significant impact on the lower quality of service during peak hours than Alice does.

Targeting these alleged bandwidth hogs for having large total usage by restricting network access or raising rates doesn’t get at the real problem, which is congestion during times of heavy usage. These penalties are essentially punishing consumers for gaining extra utility from the service, particularly at non-peak usage hours, at no harm to the ISP or other users.

Hogging implies taking much of some resource for one’s self and preventing others from gaining access to that resource. If a customer is able to do this, then the network is not being managed properly. If the network is so constrained such that 5% of users can cause congestion, even during off peak times, then the infrastructure is clearly due for an update or the ISP has promised much more bandwidth than it can deliver.

Throttling everyone during peak usage is the only sensible solution to this problem (besides upgrading the network). Getting online and finding speeds to be slow during peak hours is akin to trying to place a cell call during especially heavy usage and getting denied service, it is an unavoidable degradation in quality of service which should not pose a problem if it happens infrequently.

Now if throttling during peak periods solved the problem well that would be fine. But long term it won’t. Here is the reason why. Automation. I or anyone with the inclination could set up a cron job with a list of the files I want. Set the time for midnight and let it fly. It could drag file after file till exhausted. The bandwidth demand just shifted.

The only solution is that the ISP need to start investing to increased the bandwidth. Not by a little but by at least a factor of 10 from its current levels.

Linky.

We have of course covered the whole BitTorrent - Comcast war. Well it is an interesting thing to watch. But if you are a Linux user you can map your data flows in and out of your system and avoid the whole thing, while at the same time improving your traffic and seeding patterns.

The how to do it is here. One minor observation. You will need root access to accomplish this with all its attendant ills if you get something wrong. But if you are comfortable with the commandline you should be able to do this in about half a hour.

I do have a caution. This is not a panacea. If enough traffic gets generated using alternate port numbers it will be nothing for Comcast add that port to the bit filter. But enjoy the freedom while it lasts!

Man, what can I say? Some CableGuy gets the itch to go fast and this happens.

More pic here.

Ruuuh-Roooh is right! The FCC has handed Verizon the equivalent of a cease and desist order on customer retention efforts. It was not a suggestion, or even a tradeoff. It is stop or we the FCC will find some appropriate action –

No more letters. No more presents. No more anything.

The federal government, speaking on behalf of former Verizon phone service customers, yesterday sent the communications company a stern message: Stop trying to woo back those consumers who have opted for a new provider. They’ve moved on.

Verizon had been using its proprietary data to contact former customers and try to persuade them to give the company another try. But a majority of members of the Federal Communications Commission yesterday said such practices are illegal and infringe a consumer’s privacy.

“Today we carry out Congress’s unambiguous mandate to protect consumer privacy,” said Robert M. McDowell, a Republican commissioner. Two Democratic and two Republican commissioners voted against Chairman Kevin J. Martin, a Republican. The chairman had pushed for the agency to rule that Verizon’s use of phone numbers to contact its departing customers was legal, despite complaints from cable service operators.

Verizon yesterday evening requested a stay on the FCC decision.

It is surprising in its action. The FCC usually does not have the commissioners issuing action statements like this. That is usually handled as a parliamentary action by the enforcement bureau. Not only that but issues of customer interaction is not generally handled by the FCC either. So for all these forces to converge in this means that there are many complaints on file and some serious pressure on the Commission from the Hill.

I take this two ways. First, glad to see the Commission act for once rather than worry about political aftershocks. They appear to be taking a consumer oriented action. Second, I have concerns here. The primary one being the primacy of free choice in contract law. If a parting customer wishes to hear the retention pitch, its their right.

The crux of course is Verizon overplayed its hand for sure. If having tendered an offer the parting customer say ‘No’. That should be the end of it. Not the continued barrage of emails and letters. The cable guys should not be to overjoyed by this either. For once having spoken the Commission will have to promulgate rules to support the action. Most likely they will apply to them as well as the Telcos. To do otherwise will run foul of 14th Amendment provisions. Oh, an you can fully expect Verizon to run this into the 1st DC Appeals.

More here.

I have to warn you, this topic is gross, anatomically so. Now that I have your attention I have to point out that you should not try this at home, nor will this be in JackAss III if it ever comes out. Be that as it may –

“Can You Hear Me Now?”

Cops: Ohio Peeping Tom hid cell phone camera in his backside

JUNE 23–Meet Jeffrey Barrier. The Ohio man allegedly used a cell phone camera to snap photos of a naked woman at a tanning salon Saturday and then hid the phone in his anus in a bid to thwart police. Standing on a chair, Barrier, 41, took the photos at Cincinnati’s Aloha Tanning, where a 35-year-old woman was “in the nude in a tanning room,” according to a Hamilton County Municipal Court affidavit. When cops later confronted Barrier, “he kept denying any involvement of the incident” and claimed to not have a camera. However, a second search of the suspect turned up the camera. As noted in a Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office report, Barrier “did hide evidence in his anus.” …

The report goes on, but I think you get the picture. Its times like this I almost fear for the health of the Republic. Something is seriously wrong with people who would inflict such pain on themselves to avoid prosecution. As many a judge has said — “Remand to custody and for pain served.”

Still better? — “Hi there big boy! That a ringing bowel movement I hear or you just happy to see me?”

Ick. But that is the world today.

Lnky.

The Apple being the new Apple iPhone vs ?. Well I’ll back to you on the ? in a minute. The consumer is sitting there and sayng, hey cool I save $200 and get even more features. Well hold the iPhone LeRoy –

Apple’s new 3G iPhone might seem like a bargain at $199: more features, 3G speeds, and $200 cheaper than the original model. Great, except it’s not actually cheaper. The new $199 iPhone is actually $160 more than the $399 iPhone it replaces.

The iPhone itself may be cheaper, but the required flat-rate data plan now costs $30 per month, a $10 increase. Over the mandatory two-year contract, that works out to an extra $240. AT&T also now charges $5 per month for 200 text messages, which used to be free. That adds up to another $120.

Before you apply your generous $200 discount, you’ve already agreed to fork over $360. Two years from now, your new iPhone 3G will have cost $160 more than a current-model iPhone.

Compliments of the ever watchful folks over at Consumerist.com. Now Dear Reader do you understand why ThirdPipe recommends that phone costs be decoupled from rate plans! Its a shell game they are playig on you. You have to figure which pee you are going to get.

So lets get back to ? shall we! The ? is the Hop-On 1809 3G phone pictured here –

Oh shucks it doesn’t have the cool itouch display!? So what. It does nearly everything else you just have to use a button instead. Its 3G enabled. Plus its all up, no strings attached, full up price is $125. That’s right $125.

Folks you can keep being a chump and paying for Apples extortion or you can use your brains and get a similiar 3G product The choice is yours but if I were yoiu I would join the ‘its paid for express’. You will garner benefits in the end when the whole ETF’s issues get settled in courts and the idea of contracts die the ugly deaths. Those without subsidized phones will be the first to benefit.

The economic difference could not be clearer.

Consumerist Link.
Hop On 1809 Link.

Oh Goody! Three major carriers have joined with the NY AG to help stamp out child porn on the net. Link. The problem is, all that time and effort should be spent expanding infrastructure. –

Internet providers Verizon, Sprint and Time Warner Cable have agreed to block access to child pornography and eliminate the material from their servers, New York’s attorney general said Tuesday.

The companies also will pay $1.1 million to help fund efforts to remove the online child porn created and disseminated by users through their services, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said. The changes will affect customers nationwide.

Investigators said they found 88 newsgroups devoted to child pornography in an investigation over six to eight months. More than 11,000 images were collected using software that identifies child pornography by tracking patterns in the pixels of the images, Cuomo’s office said.

Do I like child porn? God no! Its a scourge. But like the drug trade, every effort to stamp it out will fail. Its too easy to spoof addresses and turn up temporary sites that are gone before they are discovered.

Two points:

1) If you want teeth then those that abduct children for this purpose need to be brought up on kidnapping which is a much more restrictive punishment. The problem is much of the ‘content’ is produced overseas in countries that turn a blind eye to such things.

2) The consumers of such tripe need help of course. Doing so hopefully would dry up the demand. But what does one do with the purveyors who are overseas? They remain untouched. Becoming more draconian on the homefront does not help that.

Sadly this will be nothing but a case of chasing pixies.

ThirdPipe has said before that Open Source willl be a disrupter in the telecommunications market. But hey don’t take our word for it –

Open source is about to hit the cell phone industry hard. It may even take with it one of the early darlings of US smart phones — a halfway station to open cell phone technology — the iPhone. Apple will be announcing the results of opening up the iPhone to third party developers next week at Apple’s WWDC 08. But the iPhone SDK is accessible only to existing Mac developers. That’s not open enough. ABI Research is estimating that somewhere near one quarter of the world’s smartphones will be Linux-based in 5 years. (http://www.abiresearch.com/abiprdisplay.jsp?pressid=1109) This is the iPhone’s real competition: Linux.

Where Linux goes, the consumer wins.

Were this discussion a poker reality show, I would open with Android, raise with community development and check with free community support. Like the man says, “… the consumer wins.”

Linky

 
Ok, usual disclaimers apply of course. Where do I get this idea? I cannot tell a lie, I am live blogging The Cramer Show on CNBC right now. Its Cramer’s call. Why?

• WIN (sticker) will be in a postion to take over some the VZ assets that will have to be divested for the AllTel deal to go thru. AT&T can’t. Sprint is in too much trouble. T-Mobile won’t for lack of synergy.
• WIN balance sheet looks good.
• WIN’s crawls out from Justice edicts that created AllTel this year.
• WIN throws off almost a 7% dividend.

Its Cramer’s call, play it for what its worth.

AT&T has agreed to a settlement on third party billing and services. The settlement covers the span of time from 2004 to May of this year. This settlement covers all AT&T wireless customers in the period specified.

AT&T customers who have seen mysterious charges for ringtones and other content show up on their cell-phone bills will be eligible for refunds as part of the settlement of a group of class-action lawsuits, a lawyer for the class said Monday.

Customers will able to claim refunds for spurious charges that appeared on up to three of their monthly bills between Jan. 1, 2004, and May 30, 2008, according to Jay Edelson, lead counsel for the plaintiffs.

It is the first nationwide settlement over the business of third-party content, Edelson said. AT&T spokesman Marty Richter said he knew of no other similar settlement.

Edelson’s firm has filed similar suits against Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA.

Since Edelson’s firm has cases pending against the other carriers, the AT&T settlement will be the template used. AT&T will now require that anyone signing up for third party services will have to respond to a confirming text message. Most likely this will be the solution applied by the other carriers.

Does this solve the problem? No. The confirming text message should be directed to the primary number. Why? Family plans. Kids are the biggest ringtone demographic. Under a family plan most likely the primary number holder is mom or dad. They are probably also the one paying the bills. So why shouldn’t they be the ones to approve the ‘purchase’?

More to come on this topic.

Linky.
Refund request form.