Well here’s some news Voice Over IP users may be interested in. According to a study from the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC), the “most frequently reported traffic management practices are the blocking and/or throttling of peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic, on both fixed and mobile networks, and the blocking of Voice over IP (VoIP) traffic (mostly on mobile networks, usually based on specific contract terms),” said BEREC. “When blocking/throttling is implemented in the network, it is typically done through deep packet inspection (DPI).”
The data from 400 European operators–250 fixed and 150 mobile–shows blocking of VoIP calls, especially on mobile networks, is common practice, but said traffic managements varied from market to market. 25% justified these practices over “security and integrity” concerns.
BEREC has called providing consumers with information about their Internet service limitations “fundamental.”
VoIP provider Skype has had a running battle with operators blocking calls from their networks, a battle British regulator Ofcom, which oversees the British telecom system has begun to watch. Ofcom has said in November that restricting VoIP is restricting innovation and if operators do not rethink these blocking strategies, it might be forced to take action against the operators.
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