Traffic ManagementBroadband Download Limits and Broadband TrafficBroadband traffic can vary depending on the type of user, and broadband download limits differ on the kind of internet service you have. At CCS Leeds we try to ensure there is a broadband option to suit every type of user and every type of budget. See below to find out more about our traffic management and how we ensure our customers receive the very best broadband service to suit them. The Definition of Traffic ManagementTraffic management is the term used to describe a range of technical practices undertaken by Internet Service Providers to manage traffic across their networks. Essentially, traffic management means slowing down data which isn't speed-critical, such as downloads, to ensure that time-dependent services like internet phone calls or streaming video run smoothly. Its use is not new. It supports the efficient operation of the Internet and the provision of a good experience to customers. This document explains how we apply traffic management to customers of our retail broadband products Examples of What Could Affect The Throughput SpeedBroadband is by its very nature a resource shared between many customers. Occasionally, customer's demand for bandwidth may exceed the capacity that any given broadband provider has made available on their network. As a result, customers may see a decline in the speed of their connection due to congestion at peak times. An individual customer's experience can also be affected by many other factors, including but not limited to; the technology or type of network used to deliver the service, bottlenecks in other parts of the network, the speed of the website visited, network elements in the home such as the number and speed of devices using a connection at the same time, domestic wiring (whether a wireless or wired connection is used) and the processing power of the enduser's device. How CCS Leeds Uses Traffic ManagementCustomers use their Internet connections to access many different sorts of traffic. As such, we group these into two types: The first is interactive services such as web browsing, video streaming, Voice over IP telephone calls and hosted application access. The second is non-interactive bulk services, such as news groups and peer-to-peer. Our aim is to ensure that the majority of our customers who primarily use interactive services are not impeded by the minority, which are a small percentage of our customer base who are consuming a significant amount of available bandwidth by using non-interactive bulk services. We do this by using traffic prioritisation techniques across our broadband network. By prioritising traffic by type, we can ensure the delivery of a better user experience for the majority of our customers. The different types of traffic are given a level of priority which determines their access speed at times when bandwidth demand is high. This means that traffic types more sensitive to packet loss and latency (for example Voice over IP telephone calls, video streaming and access to hosted business applications) are given greater priority. We do not apply traffic prioritisation at specific times since congestion on the network may occur at any time. Furthermore, we do not cap the potential speed of any particular traffic type. We apply our techniques dynamically according to the demands on bandwidth across the broadband network, and traffic types are given the highest possible speed according to their priority versus bandwidth availability in real time. It is important to note that this approach is unlike that of many other broadband providers. The traffic management above is applied to our non-LLU products only. In addition to managing traffic by type, our non-LLU customers can choose either Business or Family packages. Between the hours of 08:00hrs and 20:00hrs Monday to Friday the traffic of Business package customers receives priority over that of Family package customers. Unless we were to be required to do so by law, no service, content, application or protocol is permanently blocked. |
