Comcast Accused of Blocking VoIP

kamikaze-Tech writes "Comcast, the largest USA Broadband provider is being accused of VoIP blocking, just days before they release their own VoIP offering. According to a long standing thread on the Vonage Forums, many Comcast ISP users are unable to use Vonage. Tempers are flaring: 'Although you will see all manner of opinions on this thread, there seems to be a sentiment that - politely put - Comcast could really be doing a better job of carrying Vonage bits.' Looks as though this could be the beginning of the broadband quality wars, with Comcast taking the first step."

Perhaps Comcast is just inadequate?

All these ideas are entirely possible but it could simply be that Comcast doesn't provide the kind of broadband consistently necessary to use VoIP.

My experience with Comcast has been extensive and I am nothing but a little dissatisfied with how consistent my connection broadband width was. I'm not complaining that I lost connections (though I know people who have) but I will complain that my upload and download widths were anything but stable.

I eagerly await the broadband over power lines [wired.com] initiative that's inevitably going to be made available to everyone. Imagine paying for broadband but not having to pay also the cost of using an extensive cable network. Brilliant idea! Use rudimentary piggy backing techniques to deliver two signals through one line. It's actually not that difficult, I'm not sure why this took so long to develop and why it's taking even longer to make available to the public. Yes, I've heard of security concerns but there's got to be some encryption you can use.

If I ever live to see the day where cable is obsolete, I'm going to uncap my modem [cable-modems.org] and host something huge to my friends. Anyone care to take a guess on how long I'd be able to keep that up before they shut me down?

Re:Perhaps Comcast is just inadequate?

>>I eagerly await the broadband over power lines initiative

ARGH!

There are serious issues with BPL. It generates interference that compromises several amateur radio bands, and is likewise interfered with by the legal operation of numerous low-power t

Re:Perhaps Comcast is just inadequate?

Anyone care to take a guess on how long I'd be able to keep that up before they shut me down?

Anywhere from a few minutes to 24 hours. The uncapped modems were usually scanned for at least twice daily. First "offense" and your modem was cycled remotely an

Re:Perhaps Comcast is just inadequate?

All these ideas are entirely possible but it could simply be that Comcast doesn't provide the kind of broadband consistently necessary to use VoIP.

Well, there is an easy test. If their VOIP works fine and other people's don't then they are probably gummin

Re:Perhaps Comcast is just inadequate?

The people who are (semi)early VOIP adopters are smart enough to suspect shenanigans

VOIP users = very small minority of the population. Smart people = also a very small minority of the population. The intersection of these groups is another order of ma

Re:Perhaps Comcast is just inadequate?

FYI, SIP is only the signaling protocol. Voice traffic is carried via RTP and RTP ports are dynamically allocated. There is also already significant development underway to improve the security of both SIP and RTP. See SIPS (SIP Secure).

Actually...

The last few days I've been having real problems with OUTGOING Vonage calls, but incoming Vonage calls have been ok.

Outgoing calls are extremely choppy and cutout in the middle of words, but I can hear the other person without a problem.

Re:Actually...

I've noticed this too. Some calls are OK out have been OK. But a fair number are having problems. Receiving has been ok.

To add to this, I've noticed Comcast is offering phone service of its own on their website. Perhaps this is what they are up to, scrrewi

Comcast blocking doesn't surprise me...

Comcast and its sibling company Road Runner routinely block access to alternative websites such as www.infowars.com and www.rbnlive.com because they take on the Feds and the "yes-man" major media. Time Warner (the owner of both Comcast and Road Runner) is

time warner-owns comcast?

Citation? they partnered to buy Adelpgia, but time warner does NOT own comcast....

This is why I have ADSL...

For all the mud slung at them, SBC has given me nothing less than great service. VOIP works great, I get better-than-advertised throughput (5 Mb down, instead the listed 3 Mb), and I've asked them repeatedly if I could run small servers off my connection a

Libertarians and tollroads

Penn Jillette, in one of his books, wrote about how his ideal society would have all roads privately owned and managed. You'd pay as you went rather than paying for the road as part of your taxes. Those who used the road the most paid the most in tolls.

H

Vonage will sue?

How is this legal?

Or is it that Comcast has full control of what gets sent through the bandwidth they provide?
Inquiring minds want to know.

Re:Vonage will sue?

Technically, they have every right to filter what goes through the connection you lease from them (barring contractual violations - not sure if that applies here). But then they run the risk of losing common carrier status. IANAL, of course.

Not enough upload

I had Comcast and Vonage. Comcast's lower lever service has a limited upload cap which is not quite enough to get consistently clear calls, especially if you are doing anything else with the computer at the same time. It is not clear that this is a problem because they don't talk about upload bandwidth on the Vonage box, only total bandwidth, which Comcast technically meets. I cancelled Vonage after a couple of months, when I encountered almost comical ass-ness from the Vonage customer support. Those guys are complete bastards.

Didn't an ISP already get busted for this?

If I remember, about a year ago here on Slashdot, I read about a DSL ISP who got busted by the FCC for doing exactly this. They got fined a heap of money. I pay for Internet and WANT Internet, NOT just port 80 for web browsing. So Far both Cox and Verizo

Business move?

Comcast probably did this blocking to sell their own service.

They could justify the block with this part of their TOS.
http://www.comcast.net/terms/use.jsp [comcast.net]

"You shall ensure that your use of the Service does not restrict, inhibit, interfere with, or degrade

Re:Business move?

But i belive in this case this was just a shot to sell their own service, the main question is since its their network are they really ALLOWED to do this?

Sure, just as soon as they give up all their lines using publicly owned right of ways and are willi

Comcast Generally Sucks

I have been working with one of their local spot advertising reps, and was informed that "They may not be willing to work with me, because I have a competing product." Its too bad this kind of thing is even legal--From an economic standpoint, competition b

Common carrier status?

The solution to these kinds of games by telcos and cable companies is to remove whatever legal protections the perpetrators may enjoy under common-carrier or similar legal theories. When they suddenly become criminally liable for the unsavory activities o

FTC needs to be all over this one

Purposfully degrading the quality or blocking certain network trafic to hinder a competitor's ability to compete with you is clear cut anti-competitve behavior and illegal in the US. This type of underhanded "cheating" to make your service look better by

Doing a better job carrying Vonage bits?

Why should Vonage get special treatment? After all, it's not like Comcast does a decent job carrying *anybody's* bits.

Thank you Comcast

You have given me another reason not to keep your service when I move. Between the constant blacked out and pixelation of tv channels, the high price of said cable channels, the moronic tech who said my surge suppressor was the reason some of my channels

Sympatico rewrites SIP headers

I was surprised to find out that Bell Sympatico rewrites all the headers in SIP messages as it goes through. I only discovered this because in certain circumstances it does it wrong and it caused the softphone I'm working on not to work.

I'm sure this is the start of some traffic shaping experiments for VOIP on that network. Whether they have started degrading service yet I couldn't say, though.

Very worrying...

Argh

A. They don't block ports
B. Your signal levels coming into your house are probably bad, or you have a bad split in the house somewhere. Keep in mind, every time you split that coax that your signal gets cut in half depending on what type of splitter you put on the line
C. From what I understand, their VOIP service isn't like vonage, and it runs over their private network
D. If you have an issue, don't complain about it here. Call them and tell them exactly what's happening. I let my lower channels stay fuzzy for three years without calling, blaming it on them. They came out an reran the line to my house and I haven't had any issues with cable or net since.