RBOCs split internet traffic into managed and unmanaged

The attitude of those telco companies towards new P2P applications is very sensitive and abuzz, not only those two fix line telecom operators in China, but also other telecom giants, such as AT&T, Verizon and Qwest are pondering and evaluating what the P2P will bring to their networks. See the following article from LightReading.

RBOCs Wait & See on P2P

AT&T Inc.(NYSE:T-messageboard), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ-messageboard), and Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q – messageboard) don’t have hard, fast policies in place to deal with consumerpeer-to-peer traffic. Despite the hype about P2P traffic volumes on carrier networks, these phone companies say they're fine to watch and wait for now.

One network operator CTO is even skeptical that P2P really causes as much congestion in networks as has been hyped. (See P2P Fuels Global Bandwidth Binge.)

In separate conversations with leading technology executives from three of the four largest carriers in the U.S., Light Reading has learned that even while the industry is abuzz over P2P traffic, the big boys don't see it as stopping up their networks… yet. They are, however, quick to draw a distinctionbetween their proposed TV services and the other stuff that traverses the open Internet.

"I think the view that we're looking at is: You have managed services and you have unmanaged services," says Chris Rice, AT&T's executive VP of network planning and engineering. "Peer-to-peer services are unmanaged."