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Traffic shaping could be going mobile too

Sam Alderwick   on 16 February 2009 - 21:38 · 7 comments & 2667 views

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Traffic shaping, bandwidth limitations, and complete disconnection are just some of the ideas being discussed to prevent excessive bandwidth use on mobile internet services, according to an article by TechRadar. Bytemark, a data optimisation company who works with T-Mobile to provide mobile internet, is in the planning stage of what could be called a fair-use policy for mobile broadband.

According to the article, in the US (figures for the UK were unavailable) , just 2% of mobile internet users consume approximately 50% of the traffic, which is what the new plans would attempt to eliminate. However, that's not their only aim. They also aim to reduce traffic consumed by normal users. Because the service provider is able to view and interpret all HTTP data passing through it, they would also be able to cache popular content, and also optimize large capacity data such as video streams. This would drastically reduce bandwidth consumption, whilst coming at little cost to the user, especially with video streams, as many handsets can only display low quality video, and so vast amounts of data are wasted.

Cutting off heavy users, injecting user-personalised adverts, and offering extended packages (at a cost) to users where some of the alternatives to the ideas above - although how popular each one would prove is debatable. Injecting adverts would undoubtedly raise privacy concerns, despite Bytemark suggesting that they could inject adverts into groups of users – those groups being decided by users of similar location, browsing similar content, or having similar handsets or laptops.

Overall, the news could be interpreted as both good and bad. For individuals who are on fixed bandwidth plans, optimization could offer them better value for money, not to mention quicker download times for all users, regardless of any subscriptions they may have. However for heavy traffic users, it could mean spending out more, or complete disconnection from the service provider. Either way, whether or not these proposals become anything more than just that will certainly be interesting.

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#1 dcoaster on 17 Feb 2009 - 01:10
If only the companies could keep up with the demand...
#2 Michael1406 on 17 Feb 2009 - 01:39
If no one clicked adverts, what would they do? I'm surprised that people do. Well, I say surprised...
#3 Sevan on 17 Feb 2009 - 01:41
In an age where the internet is no longer open and free.
#4 +witalit on 17 Feb 2009 - 08:18
Suprise suprise full of ads + shaped traffic. **** sake man nothing can ever stay good these days. How about I get an iPhone 3G then 2 months down the line my bandwidth is throttled and I might as well be back on GPRS!!!! GODDDDDDDDD
#5 ManosK on 17 Feb 2009 - 08:38
Some operators already have a form of traffic shaping through GPRS/HSDPA networks, on the Orange UK network they compress the images i assume to enable faster transfers and of course bring down the usage at the same time. I am not sure if this can be switched off by simply deactivating the proxy settings.
(1 reply) #6 Magallanes on 17 Feb 2009 - 12:30
X% of [name] consume approximately Y% of the traffic, which is what the new plans would attempt to eliminate


Where X is some tiny and random number from 1 to 10 and Y is also a random number from 50 to 99.
And [name] can be:
-internet user.
-email.
-cellphone user.
-others..

Its can be used to blame:
-tethering.
-multiuser.
-spam.
-p2p.
-videos online.
-chat.
-ftp.


But, you can think in the opposite way:

100-X% of internet users sub-uses the service.
#6.1 Sazz181 on 17 Feb 2009 - 14:30
True, but they (Bitemark) were putting forward their argument, which is bound to be negative towards heavy traffic users.

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