The Channel Wire

July 10, 2008

Comcast and Vonage announced this week a plan to work together to ensure that the cable company's decision to manage network traffic does not interfere with legitimate services like VoIP. Last year Comcast was found to be slowing traffic over its network and denied the allegations only to later admit to the practice.

A service provider like Vonage, which offers VoIP, would be concerned at such practices because it could potentially disrupt the service they offer.

According to Reuters, Comcast claims that the only traffic it massages is file-sharing applications such as Bit Torrent, which is used to share large files.

The Comcast/Vonage partnership is the latest announcement made by the cable company in an attempt to quell complaints that it is disrupting Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality is a concept that states all internet traffic should be treated equally.

The Internet advocacy group Free Press and Vuze Inc. have made complaints to the FCC about Comcast's traffic management, according to Reuters. Currently, the FCC is nearing the end of a six month investigation into the matter.

Vonage's VoIP service runs on top of the services that Comcast provides. By pairing with the VoIP company and others, Comcast is likely attempting to quell the complaints from groups like Free Press and Vuze that feel it is imposing on Net Neutrality.