request was for a modem file for certain customers with 5Mb download speeds to not be allowed to to view streaming services because they stream 24/7 and eat up a ton of data. customers with the 300Mb service aren't limited or capped, but even they only use a small fraction of the overall data of some of the 5Mb service customers.
issue is Hulu uses rtmp and netflix uses dash protocols for streaming, not sure what others like amazon uses.
what's the best way to block streaming on the modem file?
Thank you in advance
I would say there is no good setting possible in the cable modem configuration file. You can start to try blocking single ports or port ranges. Further maybe try to block some IP ranges but the amount of entries per cable modem are limited. So it's more like Don Quixote against the windmills.
Another solution will to work with Service Class Names which will are linked to profiles on the CMTS. The CMTS is counting the traffic and on some CMTS vendors you can create policies which are change the MaxSustainedRate for the rest of the day of a particular cable modem if a pre-configured limit was reached.
If you really want to pick a certain service to block for a group of customers there is the dark side: Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) solutions like from the company Procera Networks. So it's possible to get updates from signature rules to limit certain traffic schemes like streaming aso.
But also prepare for the sh*tstorm from customers as well ;)
Couple of options :
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If you have a Cisco CMTS, you could possibly use "Cisco Subscriber Traffic Management" feature. You setup some rules about how much data can be used in a particular period of time. If user goes over limit, the CMTS will automatically temporarily demote their QoS or reduce their speeds.
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On any CMTS you can also do things like setup CM config file with
* Peak rate 5Mbps
* Max burst (something big, eg 500MB)
* Max rate eg 2Mbps
If the user is just doing interactive stuff like web surfing, everything will run at 5Mbps
If the user does a sustained download, the first 500MB will go at 5Mbps and the remaining download will go at 2Mbps
Regarding the combination peak rate, max bust and max rate a.k.a. the "powerboost" feature. Nice thought! Totally forgot this.
in all, data caps like the larger cable companies have and use looks to be the only solution. it's gone from from simple web surfing and a few large downloads now and then to video streaming. it will only get worse once 8k tv's and content starts hitting the market.
the post was a result of friend who runs a small company in Virginia asking what I thought would be the best way to dealing with some major web hog customers. had my thoughts with data cap and tracking with ipdr, but wanted to see what others have done to address the same issue. reminds me of an old clip that's still funny.. do a YouTube search for web hog
thanks again for the replies