Says change disproportionately impacts their customers
By Ahmad Hathout
GATINEAU – Third party internet service provider TekSavvy, along with the Competitive Network Operators Consortium (CNOC), said in complaints to the CRTC that a change to Rogers’ network management practices that would constrain some users’ internet usage during the Covid-19 pandemic would disproportionately affect subscribers of wholesale service providers.
Rogers submitted an application to the CRTC in May revising its access tariff to include a section outlining the company’s ability to apply internet traffic management practices (ITMP). “During these periods, any end-user whose disproportionate consumption of shared resources required for internet service is negatively impacting the access to service by other end-users, may have their service affected,” a section of its tariff said, adding it would do so on a temporary basis.
Despite the May application, the ITMP had already been in place since mid-April, TekSavvy said, which set-off a number of complaints alleging Rogers did not give companies like it and members of CNOC the required 60 days notice to tell their users of the change they say disproportionately affects resellers because, according to the CRTC 2019 Communications Monitoring Report, their customers use more data than the incumbents own subscribers.
Rogers said the ITMP primarily impacts upload data, with specific applications being peer-to-peer file sharing, often uploading around-the-clock, which is a very small percentage of customers, but ones which use 90 times the consumption of the average user, it said. It said it does not come from typical consumption of applications such as Zoom, Skype, Apple FaceTime, Facebook Live or Netflix.
In a submission to the CRTC on Friday, TekSavvy alleges Rogers did not give the adequate notice to wholesale providers about the change and said the amendment doesn’t square with public remarks by the cable company suggesting its networks are doing well during the crisis. A global pandemic was announced around mid-March, and subsequent work-from-home orders followed causing massive changes in demands on all networks.
ITMPs are used regularly to maintain network integrity and security and, in times such as these, to ensure that all users get fair access. Sometimes they don’t require notice when the incumbent addresses temporary events that require quick fixes; other times, when the timelines for how long it would last are not clear, notification is often warranted.
If the ITMP were used for network security or to temporarily address unpredictable traffic events, it wouldn’t need to notify users or the CRTC, TekSavvy said. However, “despite referencing the covid19 pandemic as a rationale not to provide notice, Rogers had not claimed that it is applying the ITMP for these reasons,” TekSavvy added.
The ITMPs “have a significant and disproportionate impact on secondary ISP traffic,” TekSavvy’s submission said, which also alleges Rogers had applied the ITMP before fulfilling its regulatory obligations.
TekSavvy is requesting the CRTC force Rogers to cease applying the ITMP until the Regulator can make a decision on the matter, enforce notice requirements on this and future ITMPs, and to consider action that would “incent” Rogers to commit to its wholesale obligations.
TekSavvy vice-president of regulatory affairs Andy Kaplan-Myrth told Cartt.ca the ITMP is currently throttling some TekSavvy customers and Rogers hasn’t given them guidelines as to what a customer has to do to get throttled. “It’s pretty vague,” he said.
“If the ITMP is based on how much a person uploads (which this one seems to be) then it will disproportionately affect wholesale end-users,” Kaplan-Myrth said. “Not only is that unfair, but it’s also not allowed – the ITMP framework specifically requires prior Commission approval for ITMPs that disproportionately affect wholesale-based providers.”
“What are we paying for when we buy capacity if Rogers can just limit our customers at will?” – Andy Kaplan-Myrth, TekSavvy
Rogers said the company implemented the ITMP as a result of the pandemic and notified resellers directly. It also said it applied the ITMP equally to both its own and wholesale customers, and the application is not based on an average use but only on a few who are using well in excess of average consumption.
But Rogers only told TekSavvy in mid-April that it had already implemented the ITMP and was notifying the smaller carrier about the change, the Chatham-based ISP said. TekSavvy says the April discussion wasn’t adequate notice; from the time Rogers eventually filed its ITMP on in mid-May, it would’ve given the wholesalers until mid-July to notify customers.
While CNOC said it understands that ITMPs need to be applied in exceptional circumstances, it requests the CRTC impose added clauses to Rogers’ ITMP language, including a line that says Rogers “apply the ITMP equally to all end users regardless of whether they are retail customers of Rogers or of a Customer” and that it should only be done for the limited time required. It also requests that Rogers inform all customers in writing that the ITMP is being applied to all customers equally; the reason for the ITMP; who is affected; when and for how long the ITMP will occur; what type of application it will affect; and how it will affect users’ internet experience.
CNOC also requested the CRTC force all providers of wholesale services to show why such language shouldn’t similarly be added to their own ITMPs.
Bell spokesman Marc Choma said in an email the company is not applying any such wireline ITMPs, but has issued one for wireless to make way for possible management of network flow on Turbo Hub devices and use of its network for emergency responders. Telus did not respond to questions in time for publication related to whether it has any similar ITMPs currently active.
The Canada chapter of the Internet Society said in its own submission late last week Rogers must provide details as to how the ITMP will affect user’s Internet experience, including the impact it’ll have on speed, in accordance with CRTC policy. It also was concerned about the use of the word “temporary” in the ITMP, which is not defined. Those parameters, as well as how the ITMP will be applied, how congestion is calculated, when traffic will be returned to normal, and how speed will be impacted should be noted in the print, the society said. In the meantime, the CRTC should deny the ITMP until those steps are taken, it said.
The CRTC received 26 ITMP-related complaints over the year, from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020, according to data on its website.
Kaplan-Myrth posited another way the ITPM may affect TekSavvy: “We directly pay for enough capacity to carry the bits that our end-users require for their plans. That is, Rogers sells us capacity that is more than enough to accommodate the data our customers use. By throttling our users, Rogers may be making things easier for their network as a whole, but that doesn’t translate into a discount on our capacity.
“So there’s a question: What are we paying for when we buy capacity if Rogers can just limit our customers at will?”
Correction: This story has a new headline from its first publication. The former headline referred to third party ISPs as “wholesalers”. This is incorrect. TPIA resellers purchase access to networks from the wholesalers, who are the incumbent network owner-operators.
