said by Dampier :

If you want a guide as to what to send their way on this issue, here is a copy of my complaint:

I am writing as a customer of Road Runner since 1998 to complain about the implementation of the "network management tool" Road Runner has recently implemented to packet shape newsgroups, peer to peer, and other high bandwidth applications. There are many legitimate and completely legal uses of these services which have now been severely impacted by the implementation of this technology, making them nearly unusable at the "peak traffic times" Road Runner activates this technology.

What is particularly upsetting to me is that I pay an extra fee to Time Warner Cable every month for your "premium" level of service which is supposed to provide speeds approximating 15mbps down/1mbps up. The reason I pay an extra fee is to enjoy this higher level of service and compensate Time Warner for the additional impact I may place on the network while utilizing those services. That level of service has now been rendered completely useless and I can see no need for Time Warner to continue offering it if you are going to handicap your users' ability to rely on the speeds advertised.

When your packet shaping technology is in use, thruput on those services has dropped to nearly 400kbps, far less than the level of service I had with a basic, standard Road Runner account. This kind of performance is completely unacceptable, and as more and more broadband video applications rely on the kinds of peer-to-peer or newsgroup-style traffic which you feel a need to "manage," the ability of your customers to use those completely legal services becomes nearly impossible.

Road Runner has always marketed itself as the fastest high speed experience in my area. That is clearly and unequivocally no longer the case, even with the slower advertised speeds your local DSL competitor advertises. With your "network management tools" in place, their marketing department can now legitimately advertise DSL as providing a far faster user experience, something that can be easily demonstrated using common Internet applications that are now being heavily "managed" by Road Runner.

I strongly urge you to expand your network to meet the ever-growing needs of your customers who, like everyone else, are being marketed legal and fully legitimate applications which require the kinds of bandwidth that Time Warner itself has always marketed as being available from Road Runner. That clearly is no longer available from a company that has chosen to throw roadblocks up for their customers instead of properly managing and growing their network to meet the needs of your customers.

said by djrobx :

7:30pm and downloading from NG server at 1180KB/sec. This shaping technology doesn't seem to have hit my area yet.

said by Dampier :

That is possible, although remember this is in effect only during "peak times" whatever that means (and if someone can get them to confirm what those times actually are, that would be useful to know.)

said by SyphonBW :

Well my speeds on newsgroups are @ 1800kb's a sec 15mbps a sec and that is with SSL Maybe SSL cant be seen by roadrunner or can it?

said by Dampier :

Our primary service is to provide you with a high speed connection to the Internet for loading websites.

said by ccbadd :

I don't mind the traffic shaping if need be, but I wish they would not include VoIP as a high bandwidth application. I use Packet8 and they use very little of my bandwidth and that is only when I am on the phone. I see this as a way to stifle competition with there own over-priced VoIP offering.