Comcast Submits Plans to Manage Broadband

Comcast, the country's largest cable operator by subscribers, formally submitted plans to the Federal Communications Commission late Friday detailing how the company plans to manage its broadband network. Rather than target specific types of bandwidth-intensive applications like peer-to-peer file sharing, the company will instead slow Internet speeds for its heaviest users at peak times when its network is congested. Comcast will do this by creating a second stream of traffic for recent heavy users that will have a lower priority when compared to its other customers. The so-called protocol-agnostic approach is intended to comply with the FCC's Network Neutrality principles, which restrict Internet service providers like cable and phone companies from degrading traffic from particular companies. On Aug 20, the FCC had given Comcast -- the country's second-largest provider of broadband connections after AT&T Inc. -- 30 days to outline its new management policies. Comcast's filing comes after the company tested the new approach for three months in five cities to study its impact. The company plans to put the policy in effect over its entire footprint by the end of the year. Comcast says no customer complaints were lodged about the new method in its trial markets and less than 1% of customers were affected on a typical day. Comcast's move may set a precedent for how other carriers manage the rapidly growing traffic on their own networks. Harold Feld writes, "it looks like Comcast has decided that its best interest lies in complying and getting this behind them... Comcast appears to have complied as thoroughly as I could wish."