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Sprint Is Throttling Skype, Study Finds

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Re: Sprint Is Throttling Skype, Study Finds

#111

Post by rhexs »

wil421 wrote: post #109
rhexs wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had Centurylink for years (fiber and DSL) and they consistently seem to throttle most video sites. Netflix/youtube has always been hit or miss. If you ask about this on reddit or dslreports you immediately get shills claiming that they would never do that / it's impossible. Weird. Using a VPN always fixes the issue.

I have AT&T fiber and experience the same thing with YouTube. If I jump on my VPN it fixes everything. It was really bad most of the year but has improved lately. Maybe it actually was a peering issue.

Sure, but when does not paying for quality peering become throttling? To me it’s the same thing — just a stealthy workaround. A few months to a year? Poor peering, sure. Longer than that? Intentional.

Re: Sprint Is Throttling Skype, Study Finds

#112

Post by Semaphor »

Havoc wrote: post #69
qyz721 wrote: post #37

Using a SIM card on a recent trip to Mexico, where net neutrality was never a thing, was really interesting. Cell service plans come with separate tariffs for regular data and "social" data, which works only in the walled garden of Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Insta, etc., and the "social" data is much cheaper. Even though the positive reinforcement was not as draconian as stuff like this, where they're obviously tr…

Local CDN im guessing. We had the same thing in South Africa. For a while you could get 90% discounted local only data.

SA generally has dirt-cheap WhatsApp data packages and at least Vodacom has free FB (without images).

Re: Sprint Is Throttling Skype, Study Finds

#113

Post by gameswithgo »

zuisan wrote: post #100
oarsinsync wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then how do I get the ISP to advertise my service as being free to use, the same way they do for Facebook? It's not much help that my clone is also free to use if nobody knows unless they go hunting through the fine print, as the initial assumption will be that it's a charged-for alternative.

Obviously your ISP is not going to advertise ALL social apps, that would be a huge list. As an example take this: https://www.vodafone.es/c/particulares/es/productos-y-servic... "use all your social network apps without using up your data allowance", and then they show you a list of apps, but all social apps should be zero-rated and if they are not you can report it. Same with video apps, music apps, etc. If you thin…

I am the consumer and I hate this bullshit.

Re: Sprint Is Throttling Skype, Study Finds

#114

Post by TangoTrotFox »

One thing most people do not understand is that the former net neutrality rules did not prohibit throttling, in and of itself. Every rule and clause in the net neutrality bill has a little clause following "Though shall not [...] except for reasonable network management." What's "reasonable network management"? 400+ pages and it was not well defined. It's something that would be decided on a case-by-case basis. But ultimately if any carrier could create a compelling argument that some service was causing undue congestion on their network, they had complete freedom to throttle it.

As an aside you'll note that now, and then, when companies are found to be doing they'll immediately scream "reasonable network management." Search for sprint "reasonable network management" and you'll get years of results such as [1][2][3]. Give them a cut of the profits and suddenly that congestion would be considered much more reasonable - a la Netflix/Comcast.

[1] - https://www.sprint.com/en/legal/legal-regulatory-and-consume...

[2] - https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/10/nonpr...

[3] - https://civsourceonline.com/2015/10/15/sprint-sued-by-non-pr...

Re: Sprint Is Throttling Skype, Study Finds

#116

Post by dboreham »

aaaaaaaaaab wrote: post #22
fjsolwmv wrote: post #18

Does Sprint sell video chat? I don't understand the anticompetitveness angle. Voice calls are free on cell phone networks, and Skype users pay for data. How would Sprint profit from giving its users a bad Skype experience? Something doesn't add up.

>Voice calls are free on cell phone networks Since when?

Since in the USA. Assuming you already need to pay for data. And don't want to make voice calls to other countries.

Re: Sprint Is Throttling Skype, Study Finds

#117

Post by brazzledazzle »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #101
sonnyblarney wrote: post #99

Tip of the iceberg. Carriers see communication services as their turf, and they go to byzantine lengths to protect that. Politically it can get funny. If you work at a handset manufacturer, and sit in on sales calls, and one of your team members brings up anything remotely related to this or VOIP, you might see the carrier buyers get visibly upset and literally walk out of the room. I could never tell if they were 'a…

You know what upsets me is that I can call people on my phone and the audio quality is terrible if they're not on the same carrier (T-Mobile in the USA). I had to tell my friend to just call me on Skype the next time cause it's always a struggle to hear them clearly over the phone. I can't believe that my carrier has "HD Calling" but everyone else sounds like the calls being patched through a sewage pipe.

I doubt it’s any consolation but I have the same carrier and don’t have that problem.

I used to be really frustrated with a few things a few years back but thinking back on it they’ve improved a lot since.

The only thing that still bothers me is the coverage. It’s usually fantastic where I live/work and outside of that it’s ok to great with really rare dead spots. To their credit it used to be non-existent/terrible to great.

Re: Sprint Is Throttling Skype, Study Finds

#118

Post by wil421 »

rhexs wrote: post #111
wil421 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have AT&T fiber and experience the same thing with YouTube. If I jump on my VPN it fixes everything. It was really bad most of the year but has improved lately. Maybe it actually was a peering issue.

Sure, but when does not paying for quality peering become throttling? To me it’s the same thing — just a stealthy workaround. A few months to a year? Poor peering, sure. Longer than that? Intentional.

It’s absolutely intentional. I think the telcos have been holding out upgrading key peering points to wait for the Net Neutrality repeal.

Re: Sprint Is Throttling Skype, Study Finds

#119

Post by hycaria »

gameswithgo wrote: post #113
zuisan wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously your ISP is not going to advertise ALL social apps, that would be a huge list. As an example take this: https://www.vodafone.es/c/particulares/es/productos-y-servic... "use all your social network apps without using up your data allowance", and then they show you a list of apps, but all social apps should be zero-rated and if they are not you can report it. Same with video apps, music apps, etc. If you thin…

I am the consumer and I hate this bullshit.

Either you use the services that much and you pay 3€ or you don't and they get taken more simply out of your data plan. You pay more for unlimited use. If you don't need it, you pay less. I like it, I don't want additional social media services, I get to pay less.

Re: Sprint Is Throttling Skype, Study Finds

#120

Post by hycaria »

Tor3 wrote: post #68
chmars wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really still need to dial? Haven’t all the persons you call a computer (smartphone!) with free VoIP capabilities?

When I'm in Japan and want to talk with my insurance company, bank, or airline over on the other side of the world, there's just one way: A phone number. Which is the (main) reason I'm still using Skype. There are other, and sometimes better, alternatives for video/chat/group chats/photos etc. But still nothing that competes with Skype's phone support, although Skype in general has degenerated a lot since the early d…

What about regular phone, landlines and stuff + email for pictures and so on ? This alternative still exists afaik. Some telecom companies even have offers for calling abroad if you move a lot.
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