Comcast to test new way to manage Internet jams

Comcast Corp., under fire for the way it treats subscriber Internet traffic, will start tests this week to see if it can avoid traffic jams by targeting neighborhood bandwidth hogs rather than file-sharing programs. The tests will be conducted in Chambersburg, Pa., and Warrenton, Va., starting Thursday, and later this summer in Colorado Springs, Colo., a Comcast spokesman said Tuesday. The Federal Communications Commission is looking into complaints that the company, which has 14.1 million Internet subscribers, is blocking or delaying some forms of file-sharing traffic. Consumer advocates and legal scholars say the practice amounts to Comcast deciding what works and what doesn't on the Internet. Comcast has said the practice was necessary to keep the file-sharing traffic of a minority of users from overwhelming and slowing more conventional uses of the Internet, like Web surfing and e-mail. (Yahoo 6-03-08)