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Class Action Suit Against Bell For Throttling
Posted by
Soulskill
on Sat May 31, 2008 12:54 AM
from the time-to-pay-the-piper dept.
from the time-to-pay-the-piper dept.
doppiodave writes "Hard on the heels of the Net Neutrality bill introduced in Canada's Parliament, a class action suit was filed yesterday against Bell by Quebec's Consumers Union, asking that extensive compensation be paid to all Bell's DSL subscribers for fraudulent advertising and privacy violations. The press release is available in French. The timing of this suit coincides with several other developments that suggest Net Neutrality is finally coming to the attention of the general public and Canada's regulator, the CRTC, which recently required Bell to file responses (by May 29) to an exhaustive list of interrogatories about its traffic-shaping practices."
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Technology: Net Neutrality Bill Introduced In Canadian Parliament 132 comments
FeatherBoa points out that the New Democratic Party in Canada has introduced legislation to limit the amount of control Canadian ISPs can exert over their subscribers. The bill would amend the Telecommunications Act to "prohibit network operators from engaging in network management practices that favour, degrade or prioritize any content, application or service transmitted over a broadband network based on its source, ownership or destination, subject to certain exceptions." Support for net neutrality in Canada has been building for quite a while now. Quoting CBC News:
"'This bill is about fairness to consumers,' said Charlie Angus, the NDP's digital spokesman. It also looks to prohibit 'network operators from preventing a user from attaching any device to their network and requires network operators to make information about the user's access to the internet available to the user.' The proposed bill makes exception for ISPs to manage traffic in reasonable cases, Angus said, such as providing stable speeds for applications such as gaming or video conferencing."
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Technology: Bell Canada Official Speaks Out On Throttling 207 comments
westcoaster004 brings to our attention an interview with Mirko Bibic, head of regulatory affairs for Bell Canada, discussing the ISP's traffic-shaping practices. This follows news we discussed recently that a class action lawsuit was filed against Bell for their involvement in traffic shaping. Bibic reiterates that internet congestion is a real problem and claims that the throttling had nothing to do with Bell's new video service. CBC News quotes him saying:
"If no measures were taken, then 700,000 customers would have been affected by congestions during peak periods. We want to obviously take steps to make sure that doesn't happen. So this network management is, as we've stated, one of the ways to address the issue of congestion during peak periods. At the end of the day, the wholesale ISPs are our customers and we generate revenue [from them], so we want to make sure we're serving them to the best of our ability as well."
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Press release translation (Score:5, Informative)
Bell Canada, which announces in the promotion of its Internet access services "a constant speed, an access that is always fast, without frustrating slowdowns, even at peak hours" has installed on its network since last fall, surreptitiously, a mechanism that deliberately slows down, at peak hours, the transfer speed of its subscribers' data.
To inspect the users' data and manage the Internet traffic, Bell uses a technology called Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) which breaches the right to privacy of the consumers using their Internet access services.
Myrna Raphael has signed in 2006 a 3-year contract, wanting to take advantage of the constant speed offered by Bell Canada. For this consumer, as well as thousands of others, the constant speed was a key factor in her choice. Since Bell has systematically applied its slowdown measures, Mrs. Raphael and her spouse could not, in the evening, perform on the Internet any of the activities for which she had subscribed.
The Consumers' Union therefore asks of the Court to declare illicit Bell Canada's policy regarding the unilateral and systematic slowdown of data transfer towards its hundreds of thousands of subscribers and to force Bell Canada to reimburse these consumers, to whom Bell does not offer what they paid for, 80% of the sum of their monthly subscription. The Consumers' Union also asks of the Court to force Bell Canada to pay 600 [Canadian] dollars in damages for any and all false representations made to their subscribers regarding the constant speed of the Internet access that it committed to provide them, to order Bell to cease all breaches to the right to privacy of its subscribers and to force the company to pay them 1500 [Canadian] dollars for breaching their right to privacy.
The Consumers' Union and Myrna Raphael, the designated person, are represented by the law firm Unterberg Labelle Lebeau.
Information: Anthony Hémond, analyst, politics and legislation for telecommunications, broadcasting, information technology and privacy, The Consumers' Union, (514) 521-6820 extension 253
Do not call this number if you don't speak French! The official language in Quebec is French, and this designated person may not speak English.
DISCLAIMER: This is not an official translation. I do understand French, however, as my mother tongue.
Also, first post.
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regards
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Yes, the official language is French, but they are part of an officially bilingual country (Canada) and big businesses realize that they operate in a world where English is the most common language. Once you
Re:Press release translation (Score:5, Insightful)
Montreal is about as un-French as it gets. Sure, it's the official language but French people may well be a minority in there, it is a very multicultural city. Quebec city, well I wouldn't expect *good* English but I'm sure they speak some, simply because of the tourist industry.
Anywhere else if you ask someone "speak english", you're likely to get laughed at and/or attacked (seriously!). The further you are from the metropolises, the stronger the anti-English (and/or anti-immigrant) resentment. Common sense ain't so common in Quebec.
Back in 1995, we had the big referendum on Quebec's sovereignty. The separatists lost by a hair, with 49.5% of the vote, and a frustrated (and drunk) Jacques Parizeau on live TV, blamed it on "money and the ethnic vote". He was absolutely right. The only people who care about Quebec's independence and French uniformity are the poor, uneducated, unmotivated, ignorant swine.
Let's face it: Canadians with money typically aren't in Quebec - its provincial tax system punishes wealth and encourages low-expectation breeding imbeciles. I left Quebec because I don't have/want kids, and I'm not fond of my tax money subsidizing that idiotic baby bonus. They do get a few things right, like (good) cheap food and booze, but as a government they are the icon of failure.
Everyone joked about how a separated Quebec would become a 3rd world nation overnight, because they'd be cut off from any significant source of income. Their money would become worthless overnight and 97% of the world is unable to communicate in French. They're already living that scenario to some extend, cushioned by the federal government in many ways, yet they still resist progress and change.
If I call a Quebec company, and they can't find me someone who speaks English, then I can't find it in my heart to give them money. So what if I'm fluent in French, they're fluent in ignorance, and I don't support that.
Parent
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I used to hitchhike through Quebec quite a bit when I was younger, and if you can understand the gist of what they say in French, they'll generally be able to do the same for your English. I've successfully had conversations lasting hours with the two of us speaking different languages at each other because even though we could decipher the foreign language, our native tongue was the only language we could fin
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Bell will still sell you service even if you don't speak French, so it doesn't really matter which language you speak does it? If I'm eligible for the suit, please explain again why I shouldn't call that number?
regards
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Personally, I find the way the comma is used in the translate makes it easier to read. I don't know if the use of comma was altered from the original or not, but it works ok, IMO.
Actually, IMO, it's fair enough criticising incorrect grammar, but it's a bit much to criticise correct usage too; *and* have to use obviously incorrect grammar in order to do so.
Origin and first language (Score:1)
I have read and translated the press release while waiting for this story to come out of the Mysterious Future, and I have tried to convert the grammar appropriately; some commas were actually missing in the source text. I go by the rule that requires adding a comma to each side, before and after, of a comment in a sentence (like in this one!).
However, I don't really care about grammar. It's there, and using it correctly makes sentences more understandable by requiring less tim
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Aggressive traffic shaping is not welcomed by the customer, and the customer will leave, it's a simple free market exercise - just vote with your wallet, and word of mouth will do the rest.
Otherwise, if you don't like the service your ISP gives you, with a protocol you chose, you are free to renegotiate your contract, or switch to another provider.
Actually, Bell has a monopoly on DSL in many parts of Canada... If you go to another ISP that sells you DSL service you're still being throttled by Bell because that ISP ultimately leases Bell's network.
Monopoly (Score:2)
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What makes favoring Metacafe and YouTube over your BitTorrent peers not "politically driven shaping"?
There's a reasonable expectation from the ISP's customers that when they click a Youtube link, the movie should play. The customer can't and won't load Youtube movies 24 hours a day, so I think it's reasonable to favor streaming, bursting traffic over bulk, sustained traffic. The ISP customers will not tolerate lagging Youtube clips, nor would they tolerate prices inflated by the requirement to give all customers constant bandwidth equal to their burst rate.
By politically driven shaping I mean any shaping
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--- What world do you live in? Certainly not the US, and, from what it sounds like,
not in Canada? The US communications market for cell and internet is very non-competitive. There is very little choice in many areas. Only a few markets have any real competition, but the rest of the US is stuck with whate
Good for them (Score:1)
Woo hoo! I'm rich! I'm rich! (Score:5, Funny)
You /were/ rich. (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd like to be pleasantly surprised (my father just retired from Bell/Verizon and without him working there, I wouldn't be in college - I must admit that), but I have a feeling I won't be. It seems that management will cut off their noses to show good numbers for the quarter, while actually losing money in the process of padding the numbers. They're not going to take a loss without passing it on to the customer, and they're probably going to take that opportunity to sweeten the deal for themselves just a little bit more. But, like I said, I really hope I'm wrong.
Parent
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And if they wind up losing the suit, and make some attempt to pass the cost onto their customers/victims it won't particularly matter to me, since I'll be using another ISP at that point.
Well, ISTR that Bell Canada controls the backbone in canada, which means that if you use another ISP, you still go through Bell Canada's network. Also, in passing on the cost of the class-action lawsuit outcome, they might get the idea of upping the charges on their peering agreements, which means your ISP has to shell out some more money. Your money.
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If they're smart -- and I'm not convinced they are -- they will do whatever it takes to keep their remaining customers. I wouldn't be surprised if they start giving away their cheaper internet package to anybody who signs up for their phone service and a long distance plan.
The cynical reality (Score:5, Insightful)
So yes, it will be nice for a while, until your diplomats come calling to outline our terribly unfair (to ISPs) policies which are out of line with the rest of the world (America) and are damaging international relations. At which point, just to illustrate the issue, a softwood lumber tariff will get slapped on us which, of course, is completely unrelated to the net neutrality issue. " - you're accusing us of a punitive tariff? You wound us." But, surprise, surprise, it gets lifted when we cave in.
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Then the politicians come in and mess it all up.
Like, last year, this civil servant was in charge of all the nuclear plants, and she's all like "Hey, you bozos in Chalk River, you haven't upgraded
Bell Canada being sued? Try AT&T in San Jose. (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm using AT&T DSL now. WOW. Worst. Service. Ever! I actually figured this out today... there's something like an order of magnitude (or more, depending how you count it) between what they advertise and what the
Sorry but isn't dual language a mandate in Canada? (Score:2)
Shouldn't it me available in English as well. Or is it just that English only is disallowed but French only is. (1/2 tongue in cheek)
Obligitory: Free Qubec
Re:Sorry but isn't dual language a mandate in Cana (Score:1, Insightful)
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New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada.
Hey, Don't forget Nunavut! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunavut)
(From http://en.wikipedia.orgwiki/Nunavut#Language [en.wikipedia.orgwiki]) "Along with Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English, and French are also official languages."
And if you step outside the larger communities, It's almost exclusively Inuktitut, A very pretty language. All of the signs are in Inuktitut, English and French.
You should go there some time. (So you can really know your own country.) I have, in the spring. It was beautiful, and -35C.
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I wasn't aware that press releases fell under the categories of "federal law" or "government services"...
Aikon-
Re:Sorry but isn't dual language a mandate in CA (Score:2)
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Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] notes there are private sector obligations as well, such as ingredient lists for food. So it is not _all_ government as the actor services that require bilingual texts.
Dual languages and communications (Score:2, Informative)
Legal correspondence from Quebec to another province, or within another province, would have to be done only in English, I think, unless it were New Brunswick.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.
Re:Sorry but isn't dual language a mandate in Cana (Score:1, Informative)
But that's only for legal documents, anyway. Which press releases from a consumer's union are no
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Re:Sorry but isn't dual language a mandate in Cana (Score:4, Interesting)
What the hell are you talking about? Only New Brunswick is legally bilingual, all other provinces are English only except Québec which is French only.
See for example the Alberta provincial government website [alberta.ca]. See any French option?Parent
stupid bell....... (Score:2, Interesting)
simple really (Score:4, Insightful)
I for one do not like the At&T DSL overlords.. (Score:2)
I have had bandwidth problems too, one happened after I installed ubuntu feisty fawn but after trying everything to resolve it in feisty and also thru bell south, I swap
Ah, that kind of throttling... (Score:2)
My first thought was 'wonder who Bell killed?' (Possibly Eddison?)
Important thing missing... (Score:4, Insightful)
I know a lot of ISPs have the clause in their contract that makes it costly for you to terminate the contract and switch to someone else.
Since Bell has effectively breached the contract, the customers should have the right to walk away from it as well with no repercussions.
Comcast Caught Throttling 2 days ago with You Tube (Score:3, Interesting)
Wondered is it You Tube servers or ISP (Comcast)?
Did speed tests there were fluctuations but plenty of bandwidth for the video. Everything else but You Tube had a crisp response. Switched cable to backup DSL (AT&T) which is much slower than the cable connection. Many people would not be able to do this type of test usually only having one provider at a house.
The You Tube problem went away. Which means it was not the PC, or You Tube servers, but having to do with packet transport.
So this shows that Comcast was ruining the You Tube experience for sure.
whether they are intentionally throttling or not is not is still a question.
Doing a trace route we can see issue for sure poor network engineering. Comcast 8 hops to Washington DC & Va, AT&T 4 hops to Chicago. It could also be that Comcast is routing it packets some intelligence agency packet sniffing hub which is causing the delay.
Any other thoughts?
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Here are some of the ones I found:
http://www.nnsquad.org/agent [nnsquad.org]
http://www.eff.org/testyourisp/pcapdiff/ [eff.org]
http://azureus.sourceforge.net/plugin_details.php?plugin=aznetmon [sourceforge.net]
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It's about time people started standing up to fraudulent ISPs.
In most countries which have English as an official language, there is one dominant player on the internet market (or, if you're lucky, two or three equally fraudulent players).
It semes reasonable to assume that they benefit from traffic being sent on their network; otherwise, they wouldn't be selling traffic on them. Also, if you send any internet traffic, you will with high probability send traffic on the big players' networks.
Conclusion: if you use the internet, you will benefit evil evil ISPs. I don'
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I call it standing up because it is a way of showing them that we are sick of their shit.
But the real solution is in legislation. (Never thought I'd say that.)
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How about the bandwidth they paid for?