Would you switch ISPs to avoid internet throttling?

Bell says it will stop slowing down peer-to-peer file sharing downloads on its networks starting March 1.

Bell says it will stop throttling P2P file-sharing traffic. (iStock)Bell Canada and Bell Aliant have been throttling download speeds for peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing applications of both its retail and wholesale customers at peak times since 2008.

But in a letter to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Bell said the increase in video streaming has meant that "P2P file-sharing, as a proportion of total traffic, has been diminishing."

Bell previously announced that it would scale back its throttling and wouldn't install equipment designed to slow down traffic on new network links.

Internet service providers (ISPs) such as Bell and Rogers say they throttle traffic to manage the data traffic on their networks. CRTC guidelines on internet traffic management say it "must be designed to address a defined need and nothing more" and should result in as little discrimination or preference for certain types of traffic as possible.

In October, a U.S. researcher said that Rogers throttles peer-to-peer traffic more than any other internet provider in North America and may be violating those guidelines.

Would you switch ISPs to avoid internet throttling? Let us know what you think in the comments below.



(This survey is not scientific. Results are based on readers' responses.)