Re: Clearwire May Block VoIP Competitors

[Robert Bonomi <bonomi () mail r-bonomi com>]

> From owner-nanog () merit edu  Sat Mar 26 12:37:15 2005
> Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 13:35:31 -0500
> From: Eric Gauthier <eric () roxanne org>
> To: "Fergie (Paul Ferguson)" <fergdawg () netzero net>
> Cc: nanog () merit edu
> Subject: Re: Clearwire May Block VoIP Competitors
>
>
> > http://www.advancedippipeline.com/news/159905772
>
> "...In what the company claims is an effort to preserve the performance
>  of its pre-standard WiMAX network, Clearwire says it reserves the right 
>  to prohibit the use of a wide range of bandwidth-hungry applications, a 
>  list that apparently includes VoIP as well as the uploading or 
>  downloading of streaming video or audio, and high-traffic Web site 
>  hosting."
>
> Hrm... Isn't a VoIP call realtively low bandwidth? 

  "*ALL* things are relative."   <grin>
>                                                     I haven't studied
> this, but Vonage's site seems to imply that the maximum data rate is 90Kbps
> (http://www.vonage.com/help_knowledgeBase_article.php?article=190).  I
> typically see speeds greater than this from my web browser...

There's a big difference.  web browser activity is typically *very* bursty.
'Average' data rate for a any single user is probably in the range of 1%-3%
of the burst peaks.

VoIP, on the other hand, has an "average" utilization that approximates 50%
of the burst rate.  In _both directions.

I suspect that that latter factor is a fair part of the "problem".  That
the cable company has allocated fairly limited bandwidth for the 'upstream'
direction (from the customer to the head-end).  That that 'available'
bandwidth is *grossly* over-subscribed, on the "presumption" that traffic
in that direction would generally be "small", and "infrequent".  When those
assupmtions get violated, _everything_ goes to h*ll.  <wry grin>

Not just for 'he who' commits the violation, but everybody else who is
sharing that over-subscribed link.

This is what happens when you sell "up to $BIGNUM" connectivity, without
discussing a minimum CCIR promise. 

IF a customer does get throttled/blocked, they might have some fun with a
false advertising assertation.