Oh brother.

This entry on Michael Geist’s blog presents some evidence that ISP Cogeco’s practices are even more limiting of P2P and the like than its more criticized contemporaries, Bell and Rogers. A study was conducted by the people at Vuze (previously Azureus) that measured how many interruptions, or reset messages, were detected during Bittorrent downloads. Geist explains that, simply put, reset messages “might occur in the ordinary course of network activity or might be the result of false messages used to hamper peer-to-peer file sharing.” He also acknowledges this story from Ars Technica, which cites research done at the University of Calgary; the research brings into question the relevance of Vuze’s findings to traffic shaping concerns. The Ars Technica article also goes into more depth explaining reset messages.

This story hits home with me right now because Cogeco is my parents’ ISP, and I’ve been pretty unimpressed with my download speeds since I moved back in with them. (While it occasionally jumps up to normal speeds for a minute, I’d say I average around 2 kbs.) In fact, I also haven’t been able to access the iTunes store for about 4 days running. I should probably call Cogeco and ask what gives, and I probably will if this keeps up for much longer. I don’t know how relevant Vuse’s reset message data is, but my own observations sure reinforce the suspicions aroused by those findings.

Bell takes a lot of heat for their terrible customer service and a bunch of other stuff, but I must say I was very happy with them in Guelph. (Downloads typically poured in at 300-500 kbs.) Fortunately, I didn’t need to contact Bell for anything during that eight month period. Hmm. I suppose location makes all the difference in the world. My friend Paul uses Cogeco as well, for both internet and TV, and doesn’t have any gripes to speak of. He lives in Dundas. In any case, I think it’s time to think about switching ISPs. Suggestions are welcome.