Waddington said the ISP lost customers as a result of introducing throttling, but the net result was a gain in customers.
While Exetel was transparent about its peer-to-peer network throttling, Waddington said other ISPs have also previously carried out the practice – they just haven’t been open and honest about it.
“Have I actually seen these boxes installed – equipment installed – on another ISPs' rack [to shape peer-to-peer networks]? At least one,” he said.
Is the problem congestion at Telstra?
Telstra’s ADSL traffic has doubled every 12 months over the past four years, with the telco telling the ACCC about possible future congestion issues in November last year.
However, Waddington said he doesn’t believe the problem is congestion because it would be cheaper for Telstra to upgrade than to deploy peer-to-peer controls.
ACCAN has also asked Telstra for evidence that peer-to-peer traffic is causing congestion.
“We’re thinking it would probably be isolated to certain patches rather than across the board,” Elise Davidson, media and communications manager at ACCAN, previously said.
Telstra is adamant it is merely conducting trials and it has nothing to hide, with its CEO, David Thodey, saying there was nothing “heinous” about it.
While ACCAN has expressed concerns, Davidson said there doesn't appear to be anything untoward.
“I think Telstra are being open and transparent about this trial. I don’t think they’re really hiding anything,” she said.
“They’re addressing all of the tough questions pretty directly, but we’ll be keeping a close eye on it.”
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