Mark Evans

Not on My Broadband System (NOMBS)

It appears that Clearwire - the latest entrepreneurial offspring of billionaire Craig McCaw - has jumped on the Not On My Broadband System bandwagon amid reports its terms of service agreement prevents the use of high bandwidth applications such as VOIP and streaming audio and video. The heart of the service agreement is the following:
“You may not use the Service or take any action that will result in excessive consumption or utilization of Clearwire’s system or network resources, or which may weaken network performance, or which adversely affects the performance of the Services for other Clearwire customers, all as determined in Clearwire’s sole discretion.”
As a result, some Clearwire customers have discovered they are not able to use Vonage - another troublespot for a company in the midst of raising another US$100 million in private equity. Clearwire claims it's blocking third-party applications to maintain the reliability of the network but there is something far more sinister happening: packet favouritism where ISPs give lower priority to traffic piggybacking on their networks. If this anti-competition approach is adopted by more broadband ISPs, it would be a major setback to the Web-services business, which is quickly emerging as high-speed access become more widespread and ISPs look for revenue beyond connectivity. For a sign of things to potentially come, look at how Madison River Telephone Co. was fined $15,000 by the FCC after Vonage complained its service was being blocked. I suspect packet blocking is akin to steroids in sports - there is a lot of activity happening but few incidents get reported or publicized.
The real reasons behind Clearwire's usage policy may not be network reliability but an agreement it recently signed to tap Bell Canada for VOIP technology. Clearwire would obviously prefer its customers use its to-be-launched VOIP service rather than a rival such as Vonage. At some point the FCC and CRTC will have to step into the fray and decide whether ISPs can implement these policies. Until the rules are clear, NOMBS stands a good - and disturbing - chance of thriving.