NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] T-Mobile FCC filing claims network saturation by Android App
T-Mobile FCC filing claims network saturation by Android App
http://bit.ly/c85qaR (FCC [PDF])
This story has been getting considerable play mainly due to the claim
on page (4) of the document referenced above, regarding an Android-based
IM application that reportedly saturated local T-M data nodes.
This is but one aspect of the document, which is a T-M filing on the
FCC Open Internet/Broadband Industry Practices proceedings -- well
worth reading in its entirety.
Regarding the IM app in question, two sentences caught my attention in
particular:
These signaling problems not only caused network overload problems
that affected all T-Mobile broadband users in the area; it also
ended up forcing T-Mobile's UMTS radio vendors to reevaluate the
architecture of their Radio Network Controllers to address this
never-before-seen signaling issue. Ultimately, this was solved in
the short term by reaching out to the developer directly to work
out a means of better coding the application.
This suggests (as seems reasonable to expect) that the app alone was
not responsible for the problem, in that an underlying architectural
issue was fundamental to providing the environment where a
"misbehaving" app could cause such difficulties without being throttled
back or cut off by the network.
--Lauren--
NNSquad Moderator