Vodafone tries "soft caps" on mobile broadband usage

Vodafone Hungary said today it has deployed a new bandwidth management system for its mobile data services that relies on sophisticated policy rules that aim to curb bandwidth hogs without punishing them with overage fees or cutting off their access.

The Vodafone move is significant because it represents yet another approach to how service providers – both wireline broadband providers and mobile data operators – are experimenting with how they deal with heavy users. Vodafone’s approach in Hungary is a unique one, aimed at minimizing congestion while also avoiding customer churn caused by angering users via heavy-handed actions, said Randy Fuller, vice president of business development for Camiant, which provides the policy servers for the solution.

“We’ve had a lot of different conversations with a lot of different operators, and as far as we know what they are doing is unique,” Fuller said. “It’s not an unlimited free-for-all but they are trying to provide as much value to people as they can.”

Like many mobile customers – particularly outside the U.S. – Vodafone Hungary providers tiers of mobile data service. Under the new system, when users go over their usage caps for a particular month, they do not face per-megabyte overage penalty fees, which can quickly become very costly. And they are not kicked off the network entirely. Rather, Vodafone dials back their usage to 2G speed levels, but only during times of heavy congestion; at other times, the users are actually able to exceed their usage cap, and at full 3G speeds. Such a “soft cap” gives users the best service possible ( 3G, even beyond their cap, at best; 2G at peak times, at worst) while ensuring the operator can both manage high usage periods as well as offer an upgrade path for customers that want to ensure more 3G peak time usage.

Specifically, Vodafone has deployed Camiant’s Multimedia Policy Engine in conjunction with mobile packet data gateway/router from Starent Networks. The Camiant system implements the 3GPP Policy and Charging Rules Function and works with the Starent box to dynamically control bandwidth availability to specific users. Vodafone began working with its vendors in August and went live with the new bandwidth management system in December.

The approach is somewhat similar to what cable MSO Comcast recently detailed it is doing in its network (Camiant also provides the policy engine for that deployment, working in conjunction with deep packet inspection boxes from Sandvine). Comcast’s approach, however, is to look at the network in fifteen-minute increments and limit bandwidth availability to any heavy user to relieve congestion during a particular period. Comcast broadband service has typically been marketed as all-you-can-eat, though as part of its new approach it also instituted a 250 GB usage cap. That cap, however, does not play into its real-time traffic management scheme as it does for Vodafone.

Policy vendors like Camiant and competitor Openet – which recently talked up its “fair usage” solution to Telephony – see service providers ultimately opting for the type of fine-grained approach to bandwidth management ,combining real-time policy and charging capabilities, adopted by Vodafone Hungary.

“Most customers want not just the ability to cap and shape traffic but the option to let consumers upgrade in real time,” said Mike Manzo, chief marketing officer of Openet. Camiant’s Fuller agreed, noting that his company has begun to work with a small handful of operators on such approaches, including one operator that is using a policy-based approach to limit customer exposure to unexpected roaming charges.