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Internet Services - Performance Management

Are traffic management practices applied to all Primus High Speed Internet customers?

Primus offers High Speed Internet service in two different ways based on your household location: on our Primus network and, where such network is not available, by using a wholesale arrangement on a network that passes though other major ISPs. Primus’ Performance Management applies only to the Primus network. Wholesale network segments controlled by other ISPs are subject to the policies of the respective providers as approved by CRTC and may include bandwidth caps and/or limitations placed on specific Internet applications.

Learn more about Primus’ Performance Management

Learn more about the traffic management practices that are applied to Primus services provided through wholesale arrangements by the wholesale service provider.



Primus Performance Management

Why does Primus need to use Performance Management?

Like other ISPs, we deliver our High Speed Internet service over a network which is shared among the customers we have. Congestion will occasionally occur in sections on any network when many people are using the network at the same time or are engaging in activities that use a large amount of bandwidth. Primus Performance Management is designed to ensure that if congestion reaches a certain level in a section of the network, the absolute majority of customers in this section continue to have a good Internet experience.

What does Performance Management do?

Primus Performance Management assigns higher priority levels to time-sensitive and priority Internet traffic:

Internet activity/traffic
Priority Level
Time sensitive traffic: e.g. VoIP and gaming
Highest
Priority traffic; applications used by absolute majority of Internet users: e.g. surfing, email, instant messaging and streaming media
High
All other activities
Normal

When Internet traffic is light, all applications run at full speed. However, if congestion occurs, Primus Performance Management makes sure that the traffic of time-sensitive and priority activities like VoIP, gaming and messaging is always prioritized and is not swamped by the traffic of very resource-intensive (but not very time-sensitive) applications like file downloads.

When is Performance Management applied?

Primus Performance Management is active at all times. When congestion is detected, Primus Performance Management assigns higher priority levels to time-sensitive and priority Internet traffic. If congestion is not detected, prioritization is not applied and all traffic runs at full speed.

As congestion may occur at any time, this approach ensures a high level of service for all time-sensitive and priority Internet activities at all times.

What does this mean for my Internet experience?

Primus Performance Management ensures a consistently high level of service for all time-sensitive and priority Internet activities, like VoIP, gaming, email, messaging, audio/video streaming and web browsing.

For example, in a section of the network experiencing congestion, customers who are downloading files, performing software updates or running similar resource-intensive applications might see their download/upload speeds temporarily slowing down and going back up when congestion decreases. However, the performance of time-sensitive and priority activities should not decrease during these times of congestion.

Primus does not set specific bandwidth limits or speed restrictions for any traffic. When congestion occurs, traffic that is not prioritized, such as the traffic of resource-intensive applications, is slowed as a result of time-sensitive and priority traffic being prioritized. It is not possible to define the exact impact that Primus Performance Management will have on the speed of traffic that is not prioritized, such as the traffic of resource-intensive applications, when congestion occurs in a section of Primus’ network.

How is it different from techniques used by other service providers?

Many other ISPs, including certain incumbent telephone companies, are limiting particular applications to a certain bandwidth or speeds whether their network is congested or not.

The Primus approach is different. We do not cap any applications. Under normal circumstances, everything runs at maximum speed. If a section of the network becomes congested, Primus Performance Management makes sure that the traffic of time-sensitive and priority activities receives priority over the traffic of non time-sensitive activities in order to maintain a quality Internet experience for all users.

In addition, Primus is constantly working on augmenting our network capacity to make occurrences of congestion less likely.

Do you give any advantage to your own applications, such as VoIP?

No. Primus Digital Home Phone is treated exactly the same as VoIP services from other companies. Network priority is assigned to the type of Internet traffic and Primus Performance Management does not discriminate against any vendor, service provider or website.



Traffic Management Practices Applied by Wholesale ISPs

Ontario and Quebec

If you are located in Ontario or Quebec and are provided Internet access service by Primus through a wholesale arrangement, the following traffic management practices are applied. It is important to note that these traffic management practices are not applied by Primus, but by the wholesale service provider. For Primus Internet that is delivered over a cable line over a fibre-based network through a wholesale ISP, a sophisticated Performance Management tool (that prioritizes time-sensitive Internet applications) is used to ensure sustainable quality of service for all of our customers. Performance Management does not apply any caps, but makes sure that during extreme demand periods, if congestion occurs in a section of the network, these Internet applications are not swamped by resource-intense (but not very time-sensitive) activities like file downloads.

British Columbia and Alberta

If you are located in British Columbia or Alberta and are provided service through a wholesale arrangement, there are currently no traffic management practices applied to your service.