ISP complains about webmeeting

[AlexanderReichert]

a user got a very nasty email from their ISP ( http://www.shorewaves.net/ ) complaining that a webmeeting (3CX) is clogging up their network.
Next to that this email is worded very threatening, it is amazing that an ISP cannot identify that this is not unusual traffic - especially if "work from home" is one of their sales pitches.

Even SIP calls from that user made via the webclient are constantly dropping. So I don't think it is 3CX but just too low of a network bandwidth of the ISP.
Any input?

We are seeing very odd traffic on your station.
I spoke with you last week and indicated that your Wednesday morning meeting is maxing out your service.
Not only is it maxing out your service but our monitoring system is indicating that it is also maxing out the entire ShoreWaves tower that serves you and causing some serious issues for all of our customers served off of that tower.
Mr. XX indicates that this is generally due to the way that this meeting is set up by the meeting organizer.
Please cease this Wednesday morning activity as it is causing serious issues in our network until it can be done in a way that does not cause extreme degredation to the service of those served off of your tower.

 

[florink]

I am sorry but I cannot believe that is a legitimate email from an ISP! Unless this "ISP" is running off the basement of their home!

 

[AlexanderReichert]

unfortunately it is a real email received today.

 

[AlexanderReichert]

and your "running off the basement of their home" is actually coming pretty close to the reality

 

[craigreilly]

I would be interested in bandwidth usage difference between webmeeting and others - ie: Zoom, Teams, etc.
Since webmeeting is hosted in the cloud - I can not see how 1 person is maxing this out.

 

[VoIPTools]

As craigreilly points out, the majority of the work is performed by the MCU in the cloud. In my opinion, the ISP's concerns are more a reflection of an oversubscribed network than on the bandwidth requirements of a single web meeting. For heaven's sake, how many of their customers are downloading 4K Netflix and Amazon Prime movies? Are they going to suggest that too is an unacceptable use of their internet connection? Sounds like it is time to consider a different ISP.

For what it is worth...

 

[AlexanderReichert]

I am really glad that see that my reaction to this email is shared by others: basically WTF?

 

[craigreilly]

I've gotten those letters from the ISP when an employee starts downloading movies from the darkweb... lol. not for a legitimate use.

 

[AlexanderReichert]

OK called the ISP - turns out as suspected it is one guy with an assistant in his office. That phone call ended quickly after the owner thought it is a great a idea to scream and yell at me for abusing the connection. I ended that call for unprofessional behavior . Technically speaking it is a shortwave connection - highest speed 5mbits down 2mbits up but high latency and highly fluctuations

in that rural area the options for other ISPs are very limited. But we looking into it again.

 

[VoIPTools]

Elon Musk and SpaceX are launching another 60 satellites on Thursday. In theory that will be enough satellites to cover the northern part of the USA and Canada. They say it will have a latency of something less than 20 milliseconds and will be less expensive than traditional cable carriers.

Geostationary satellites are not a good option for voice because of the high latency. The SpaceX solution will not suffer these delays because their satellites are in low-earth orbit and much closer. They claim that performance will be good enough for competitive gaming something you could not dream of doing with traditional satellite solutions.

I spent nearly 20 years in rural Wisconsin and I know first-hand how desperate these rural customers are for a functional internet connection. The wait (hopefully) is almost over (at least for those people in that latitude).

 

[SteveITS]

Webmeeting should be just the one user uploading to the 3CX server as noted. Quality can be adjusted to perhaps reduce bandwidth? https://www.3cx.com/blog/docs/video-adaptivity-webmeeting/

 

[Juan Marriott]

Webmeeting should be just the one user uploading to the 3CX server as noted. Quality can be adjusted to perhaps reduce bandwidth? https://www.3cx.com/blog/docs/video-adaptivity-webmeeting/

I think that works only local, it controls how much bandwith you use for transmit your video, not every one elses...
I think, video Adaptivity should be at max(more stability) thats what we all want...

 

[SteveITS]

bandwith you use for transmit your video

Ah, I misread and assumed the ISP was complaining about upload bandwidth. If they are complaining about download usage then there's not much to do there unless 3CX has a way to not view someone else's camera (useful if someone joins a meeting in their pajamas ).