Comcast blocking Windows remote assistance coming from Verizon FIOS

It looks like Comcast is blocking remote assistance sessions from Verizon FIOS. I can connect fine from FIOS a PC on Hargray.com and Kuhncom.net networks, but when I try to connect to my mother's PC on Comcast, the initial connection attempt times out. When I use Verizon Wireless' EVDO Broadband network it connects without issue. There are no differences in PC configurations between the two connections. I am using my X60 in all scenarios, and since I can connect to other individuals on different networks using FIOS, I have to assume that Comcast is in fact blocking remote assistance connections from FIOS.

Comcast has already been chided by the FCC for its stance on Net Neutrality slowing and/or blocking peer to peer traffic. At yesterday's FCC's open public meeting  (Gigaom article) on the subject at Stanford, they failed to show up. Comcast is already a lousy cable TV provider, now they want to add lousy to their Internet service. As competition grows from Verizon FIOS and others, I would think they would want to rethink their strategy but they seem to have their head in the sand. I also have to chide Verizon and the other large telecoms for not showing up at this meeting. I can understand that telecoms don't want more regulation, but if they want to avoid it they need to reign in the likes of Comcast.

This is not a positive environment for the consumer and I believe Congress needs to take some action.

Comments

[Chris Carlin]

The thing is, Comcast's filtering of P2P filesharing makes for a positive environment for consumers who don't want to do participate in such filesharing. Blocking that traffic-hungry beast leaves more capacity free for the web browsing, youtube watching, DMCA-respecting crowd.

Once again this turns into a case where you're assuming the rest of the world wants the features you do. This time I happen to be in your group, wanting unmangled access, but I recognize that plenty aren't interested in this feature.

The real problem is that Comcast doesn't advertise its policy of "targeting" its bandwidth toward non-P2P use... but then all ISPs do blocking and it's just industry standard practice not to.

In the end we just have to vote with our dollars: want P2P? Don't go with Comcast. Don't care about P2P? Comcast might very well be your best bet.

[Chris Carlin]

Oh, I forgot to say, I suspect that they're not targeting remote assistance specifically.

It could either be an arcane technical issue--I seem to recall FIOS having funky MTU and such--or just accidental misclassification of the traffic. Either way it should be fixed, but it's one of those "be careful what you assume" cases.

[Stephen Skarlatos]

Chris, The problem is that many consumers don't have a choice. Take my mother's situation; currently she can only get Comcast in her condo, DSL is not even an option so if you want Broadband, you are pretty much stuck. I also believe there are better ways of managing bandwidth like targeting the users who are responsible for traffic which exceed normal usage. Obviously this would need to be spelled out in the terms and conditions.

On the Remote Assistance frontm I agree they are not targeting the application, it just happens that they are blocking certain required ports. What I find baffling is that they target traffic coming from Verizon FIOS and not Verizon Wireless...