ISP did not throttle YouTube traffic at peak hours, telecom regulator finds

Allegations that an ISP throttled traffic from YouTube and other Google properties at peak hours were unfounded, according to the French telecommunications regulator.

Any problems with access to YouTube and other sites at peak hours were simply due to the overall volume of data flowing between the ISP, Free, and the rest of the Internet, said the regulator, Arcep.

Following a complaint from the French consumer association UFC-Que Choisir last September that Free appeared to be throttling traffic from YouTube, Arcep began an investigation, questioning the companies involved and their transit providers, and studying traffic flows.

Arcep spent six months studying traffic flows at Free, finding that Free and Google exchange traffic directly, via peering, and indirectly through a number of international transit providers, and that both routes are congested during peak hours, as they are at other ISPs.

Furthermore, there were no signs that Free was employing traffic management techniques on its network to discriminate against traffic based on the content, origin, destination or protocol used. In other words, Arcep said, “No practices contrary to principles of net neutrality were observed.”

At the time of the complaint, Free was known to be in dispute with Google over who should pay for additional interconnect bandwidth between the two. In January it briefly added a function to the DSL routers of millions of its customers to block ads served by Google and other major ad networks. The ad blocker, enabled by default although Free’s customers could choose to disable it, cut into the revenue the ad networks received from French surfers. Within days, the French government announced that such action was against the principles of net neutrality, and with the next router software update, the feature disappeared. There was no change in the number of complaints from Free customers on user forums and elsewhere about difficulties viewing YouTube videos at peak hours, though.

Neither Google nor Free immediately responded to requests for comments on the investigation’s findings.

Having recognized the importance to customers of the way in which ISPs and Internet companies balance their use interconnection and peering, the regulator now plans to conduct six-monthly reviews of operators’ practises and the effect this has on customers.

ISP did not throttle YouTube traffic at peak hours, telecom regulator finds

Allegations that an ISP throttled traffic from YouTube and other Google properties at peak hours were unfounded, according to the French telecommunications regulator.

Any problems with access to YouTube and other sites at peak hours were simply due to the overall volume of data flowing between the ISP, Free, and the rest of the Internet, said the regulator, Arcep.

Following a complaint from the French consumer association UFC-Que Choisir last September that Free appeared to be throttling traffic from YouTube, Arcep began an investigation, questioning the companies involved and their transit providers, and studying traffic flows.

Arcep spent six months studying traffic flows at Free, finding that Free and Google exchange traffic directly, via peering, and indirectly through a number of international transit providers, and that both routes are congested during peak hours, as they are at other ISPs.

Furthermore, there were no signs that Free was employing traffic management techniques on its network to discriminate against traffic based on the content, origin, destination or protocol used. In other words, Arcep said, "No practices contrary to principles of net neutrality were observed."

At the time of the complaint, Free was known to be in dispute with Google over who should pay for additional interconnect bandwidth between the two. In January it briefly added a function to the DSL routers of millions of its customers to block ads served by Google and other major ad networks. The ad blocker, enabled by default although Free's customers could choose to disable it, cut into the revenue the ad networks received from French surfers. Within days, the French government announced that such action was against the principles of net neutrality, and with the next router software update, the feature disappeared. There was no change in the number of complaints from Free customers on user forums and elsewhere about difficulties viewing YouTube videos at peak hours, though.

Neither Google nor Free immediately responded to requests for comments on the investigation's findings.

Having recognized the importance to customers of the way in which ISPs and Internet companies balance their use interconnection and peering, the regulator now plans to conduct six-monthly reviews of operators' practises and the effect this has on customers.

Gadgetwise: Braven Speakers Let You Party for Hours

If you, as the band Kiss might put it, want to rock ‘n’ roll all night and party every day, Braven has designed the wireless accessory speaker for it.

 
The Braven 850 claims its battery can play music continuously for up to 20 hours, although in a test, playing the speaker at a modest volume, it sailed past the 24-hour mark. At that point, the speaker’s battery indicator still showed two-fifths power remaining.

 
Larger than some of the previous Braven products — at about 10 inches long, 4 inches tall and 3 inches deep — the 850 has a nice, balanced sound, with ample bass and clear highs. It also has a DTS bass-boosting sound enhancement, which is controlled by holding volume up and down together for two seconds.
The silver cabinet is of aluminum with clearly marked controls on top, including one that turns the speaker into a speaker phone (when paired with a phone by Bluetooth, of course).

 
A single 850 is loud enough to support a living room dance party, perhaps because of the built-in 20-watt amplifier. But it can also be paired with a second 850 to, as the band Marrs might put it, pump up the volume. The pairing also allows for true stereo sound, as one speaker plays only the right channel, the other one, the left.

 
These weigh more than three pounds, so you might not want to tote a pair of them on a hike to the beach. And if you are considering it for some reason other than portability, you might also consider the price. At $300 each, you’re looking at $600 for a pair. For that same money you could buy a respectable stereo receiver and bookshelf speakers. Or, as the band the Brains might put it, money changes everything. 

After Drifting For Hours On Arctic Ice Floe, 20 Tourists Are Safe

A group of tourists got a bit more adventure in the Canadian Arctic than they wanted Tuesday, after they realized the ice floe on which they were camping had split off and begun drifting into open water. The 20 tourists and their guides were finally airlifted to the mainland Wednesday afternoon.

The tourists were part of a week-long expedition hosted by Arctic Kingdom, a company that offers "Arctic safari" trips to guests who camp on Baffin Island and other areas to see animals such as polar bears, bowhead whales, and narwhals in their natural habitats.

But Tuesday morning, the guides woke up to realize their group was camping on top of an ice floe that had become disconnected from the shore in Admiralty Inlet, off the coast of Arctic Bay, Nunavut. They used GPS technology to confirm that their camp was drifting away, then called for help with radio satellite phones.

Graham Dickson of Arctic Kingdom says the company's guides are trained to stay far from the edge of the ice when they establish their campsites. He says strong tides from this weekend's Supermoon and strong winds caused an unexpectedly large chunk of ice to break off the mainland sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning.

When the ice, which was reportedly about 5 kilometers long, broke off, it took the entire camp with it.

Dickson says the Arctic Kindgom camp atop the ice floe included dining rooms, cooks, and 300-square-foot tents. "Our people had all the comforts of home in their safari camp," he said.

Many of the guests on the expedition were comfortable, happy, and easygoing throughout the rescue, Dickson says, noting that many of them were experienced world travelers.

Yvonne Niego of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police says that it is fairly common for people to get stranded on ice floes moving away from land in this area.

"Annually we receive this sort of call for help, but it is usually just one to two people who get stranded," Niego says. "This is the first one over several years that is this large.... it's a bit extraordinary."

And with limited ability to land aircraft and helicopters, rescue efforts in this region are difficult, Niego says. The tourists received a survival kit delivery from the Royal Canadian Air Force Tuesday, which included large rafts in case the ice floe split.

Later, the tourists were able to get back on land, after their floe drifted toward the shore again. There, they waited in a small cabin with supplies and food, until a military helicopter picked them up.