Comcast, Vonage reach traffic management understanding

Cable TV provider Comcast and VoIP service provider Vonage, who compete on the VoIP front, have reached an agreement under which Comcast has pledged that its traffic management practices will not interfere with Vonage VoIP traffic traveling over Comcast's network facilities. According to a story at Light Reading's Cable Digital News, that does not mean Vonage traffic will get preferential treatment. The extent of what it does mean is not exactly clear because the companies are not talking about the specific points or practices covered by the agreement.

The timing of the agreement is interesting because Comcast has indeed been testing and working on new traffic management solutions since being cited for traffic-shaping practices that delayed peer-to-peer traffic. Could such agreements become more frequent as service providers riding over other carriers' networks seek a degree of reassurance that their traffic will not be slowed in the name of network management?

For more:
- read this report at Light Reading's Cable Digital News