Slow Internet access tonight? ISPs say, blame it on the P2P.

In an earlier blog entry, I wrote about how the Internet really works and why there’s really no such thing as dedicated Internet bandwidth. To tackle the increasing bandwidth usage, ISPs are now installing Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) devices to reduce bandwidth contention.

StarHub has publicly announced its use of Sandvine Incorporated‘s Policy Traffic Switch to shape individual user’s traffic to allow fair use of network protocols for better user experience.

StarHub has been working with our technology partners to mitigate the heavy burden caused by the volume of P2P traffic on the network. To ensure latency-sensitive applications (such as web-surfing and video-streaming) are not severely affected, especially during peak periods, we have implemented traffic shaping to optimize the overall efficiency of the network.

SingNet also has a clause in fine prings, urm… prints, hidden deep beneath their website just like any other SingTel legal agreements:

SingNet employs a fair use policy that ensures no single traffic protocol monopolizes all available bandwidth at the expense of other traffic protocols. Network management activities are carried out only for the P2P traffic protocol by ensuring that P2P traffic does not consume more than 10% to 25% of the total available bandwidth during peak and off peak hours respectively.

So, what really is fair? Is it fair that I get less P2P bandwidth than my neighbor next door watching YouTube? Afterall, everybody uses the Internet differently.

Quoted from Macbeth: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”