NetEqualizer News Blog

Comcast is now rolling out the details of their new policy on Traffic shaping Fairness as they get away from their former Deep Packet inspection.

For the complete Comcast article click here

Below we compare techniques with the NetEqualizer

Note: Feel free to  comment if you feel we  need to make any corrections in our comparison our goal is to be as accurate as possible.

1) Both techniques make use of slowing users down if they exceed a bandwidth limit over a time period.

2) The Comcast bandwidth limit kicks in after 15 minutes and is based only on a customers usage over that time period, it is not based on the congestion going on in the overall network.

3) NetEqualizer bandwidth limits are based on the last 8 seconds of customer usage, but only kick when the overall Network is full.  (the aggregate bandwidth utilization of all users on the line has reached a critical level)

4) Comcast punishes offenders by cutting them back  50 percent for a minimum of 15 minutes

5) NetEqualizer punishes offenders  just a few seconds and then lets them back to full strength. It will hit the offending connection with a decrease ranging from 50 to 80 percent.

6) Comcast puts a restriction on all traffic to the user during the 15 minute Penalty period

7) NetEqualizer only punishes offending connections , for example if you were running an FTP download and a streaming audio , only the FTP download would be effected by the restriction.

In our opinion both methods are effective and fair.

FYI NetEqualizer also has a Quota system which is used by a very small percent of our customers. It is very similar to the Comcast 15 minute system only that the time interval is done in Days.

Details on the NetEqualizer Quota based system can be found in the user guide page 11.

Created by APconnections, the NetEqualizer is a plug-and-play bandwidth control and WAN/Internet optimization appliance that is flexible and scalable. When the network is congested, NetEqualizer’s unique “behavior shaping” technology dynamically and automatically gives priority to latency sensitive applications, such as VoIP and email. Click here for a full price list.