CNS Plans FCC Net Neutrality Complaint Against TWC, After Informal Bid Fails
Commercial Network Services is preparing to file a formal net neutrality complaint against Time Warner Cable at the FCC, after informal complaints to the agency didn't succeed, said CEO Barry Bahrami Tuesday in an email. CNS hasn't received any feedback…
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from the FCC on the substance of its informal complaints, just emails closing an informal track and outlining procedural options, Bahrami said. “The ticket was just abruptly closed. Definitely feeling let down by the informal process,” he told us. An FCC spokesman had no comment. Bahrami had informally complained to the agency in June that TWC was violating net neutrality rules against Internet throttling and paid prioritization by not providing CNS with settlement-free peering, causing streaming video of the company’s “San Diego Web Cam” to be disrupted due to network congestion (see 1506230048). TWC said CNS didn’t qualify for settlement-free treatment under its “longstanding and industry-standard peering policy.” An industry analyst and an ardent net neutrality public-interest advocate said they believed CNS was facing an uphill battle (see 1506240049). After some CNS and TWC back-and-forth in filings, Bahrami recently received an email from the commission telling him it regretted he wasn’t satisfied with FCC staff attempts to facilitate satisfactory dispute resolution. “You will receive no further status on your complaint from FCC staff,” said the email. Bahrami said, “The San Diego Web Cam will remain unavailable to TWC viewers and the virtuous cycle will continue to not run on all cylinders.” He sent an inquiry to Chairman Tom Wheeler and received an email informing him of his right to contact the FCC Market Disputes Resolution Center and file a complaint. “We are doing that now while we prepare a formal complaint,” Bahrami said. A TWC spokesman said Wednesday there wasn’t anything new to say. “As we've said before, TWC’s interconnection practices are not only ‘just and reasonable’ as required by the FCC, but consistent with the practices of all major ISPs and well-established industry standards,” he said.