2008 Woodie Awards
The Fate of VoIP In Question
Aaron Fetterman
Issue date: 11/7/05 Section: News
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Voice over IP (VoIP) has grown to consume around ten percent of the total bandwidth being used at Clarkson. The Office of Information Technology (OIT) is looking for ways to control or limit it to make the bandwidth crunch less of a problem. For tips in tackling this and the growing amount of applications that are using HTTP ports to download large files, OIT held an Open Forum last Thursday, November 3.
VoIP has become a growing issue, contributing to some of the usage spikes over the past few weeks that have slowed the network. VoIP allows people to use their computer and a broadband internet connection to make telephone calls. It is a cost-effective solution for many people. The bandwidth required to use VoIP is high because it involves transferring high-quality audio at real-time speeds.
OIT said that they would probably restrict VoIP from being used in classrooms or labs as a first step towards limiting its use. Some other proposed solutions were limiting it or shutting it down for some of the peak bandwidth hours. Chris Catucci said that, since when he used VoIP he did not also use the internet, there could be something that allows people to use VoIP and the internet, but not at the same time. He also suggested that a bandwidth cap might be reasonable, but something much higher than the 55kbps rate imposed at the beginning of the academic year. Others suggested that the cap could be relaxed when there was open bandwidth, and students could use bits.clarkson.edu or the COSI mirror for some of the larger downloads.
OIT resolved to make a survey of how other universities use their bandwidth and how they limit students. A survey would help give ideas and support for any solutions they decide to go forward with.
While bandwidth did not seem to be an issue last year, it has become much more of a problem now. No matter how much bandwidth OIT makes available, it will almost all be consumed. An important problem for OIT is the growing number of applications that they can not control. HTTP, which is used for transferring data to and from web pages, uses port 80. While most other ports can be blocked or scanned, HTTP is left wide open because people need to use the internet. Some applications are taking advantage of that opening, and OIT suspects that those applications, beyond the detection abilities of the packet shaper, are transferring illegal files. OIT's recent efforts have decreased the number of Recording Industry Association of America and Motion Picture Association of America (RIAA/MPAA) warnings from three hundred to five. Some students suggested a reasonable cap on HTTP traffic, as it is mostly used to transfer web pages and pictures, which do not take a ton of bandwidth.
Students asked about the Printer Balance, currently $24.00 per semester, and asked if it could be rolled over from semester to semester. Gard said that OIT had a certain budget for paper and ink every year, and the printer balance was that budget, divided between the student body, and then tripled. If every student used their full printer balance every year, OIT would be over budget on paper by 200%. The current rate tends to limit printing enough that students use the amount budgeted per semester.
VoIP has become a growing issue, contributing to some of the usage spikes over the past few weeks that have slowed the network. VoIP allows people to use their computer and a broadband internet connection to make telephone calls. It is a cost-effective solution for many people. The bandwidth required to use VoIP is high because it involves transferring high-quality audio at real-time speeds.
OIT said that they would probably restrict VoIP from being used in classrooms or labs as a first step towards limiting its use. Some other proposed solutions were limiting it or shutting it down for some of the peak bandwidth hours. Chris Catucci said that, since when he used VoIP he did not also use the internet, there could be something that allows people to use VoIP and the internet, but not at the same time. He also suggested that a bandwidth cap might be reasonable, but something much higher than the 55kbps rate imposed at the beginning of the academic year. Others suggested that the cap could be relaxed when there was open bandwidth, and students could use bits.clarkson.edu or the COSI mirror for some of the larger downloads.
OIT resolved to make a survey of how other universities use their bandwidth and how they limit students. A survey would help give ideas and support for any solutions they decide to go forward with.
While bandwidth did not seem to be an issue last year, it has become much more of a problem now. No matter how much bandwidth OIT makes available, it will almost all be consumed. An important problem for OIT is the growing number of applications that they can not control. HTTP, which is used for transferring data to and from web pages, uses port 80. While most other ports can be blocked or scanned, HTTP is left wide open because people need to use the internet. Some applications are taking advantage of that opening, and OIT suspects that those applications, beyond the detection abilities of the packet shaper, are transferring illegal files. OIT's recent efforts have decreased the number of Recording Industry Association of America and Motion Picture Association of America (RIAA/MPAA) warnings from three hundred to five. Some students suggested a reasonable cap on HTTP traffic, as it is mostly used to transfer web pages and pictures, which do not take a ton of bandwidth.
Students asked about the Printer Balance, currently $24.00 per semester, and asked if it could be rolled over from semester to semester. Gard said that OIT had a certain budget for paper and ink every year, and the printer balance was that budget, divided between the student body, and then tripled. If every student used their full printer balance every year, OIT would be over budget on paper by 200%. The current rate tends to limit printing enough that students use the amount budgeted per semester.