Q. Can you provide more information about the P2P restrictions being implemented by Rakuten Broadband Premium?

A. Please see the following questions and answers for more information about the P2P and file sharing restrictions being implemented;

Q. Do I have any control over the P2P restrictions?
A. Unfortunately no and, in fact, neither do Rakuten Broadband Premium. Our POI provider with NTT has implemented these restrictions to reduce bandwidth being used by file sharing and P2P software such as Share, Winny, Gnutella, Bittorrent, etc.

Q. When I signed up with Rakuten Broadband Premium, I was not notified of these restrictions. Why not?
A. These restrictions were implemented at the end of November 2010 and anyone signing up after this time and asking about throttling would have been informed of these restrictions. Article 2 of the End User Agreement notes that changes to existing contracts are also possible. (End User Agreement)

Q. Will it sill be possible for me to using P2P and file sharing software at all?
A. Yes, we can confirm that you will still be able to use P2P and file sharing software but the amount of bandwidth available will be restricted to prevent increased traffic from these sources affecting HTTP and other traffic.

Q. Why are the restrictions being implemented now?
A. The restrictions are being put into place to prevent users of P2P and file sharing software clogging the network and using very large and continuous amounts of bandwidth for file transfers. This will prevent regular HTTP and other traffic from being affected in the future.

Q. I’m not sure what P2P and file sharing is. I currently use email and just browse websites so will these changes affect me?
A. No, regular email and web browsing (HTTP) will not be affected by the restrictions.

Q. Will instant messaging software be affected by the restrictions?
A. No. Programs such as Skype, MSN Messenger and other messaging software will not be affected.

Q. Will video streaming be affected by the restrictions?
A. Video streaming should not be affected (e.g. YouTube) except in instances where Bittorrent or other file sharing protocols are in use.

Q. Will my IP TV or IP Phone services be affected by the restrictions?
A. No, users of these services will not be affected.

Q. Will online gaming be affected by the restrictions?
A. Online gaming should not be affected except in instances where Bittorrent or other file sharing protocols are in use.

Q. Will FTP file transfers be affected by the restrictions?
A. No, FTP file transfers will continue to work as they do now.

Q. Will online trading tools be affected by the restrictions?
A. Online trading tools should not be affected except in instances where Bittorrent or other file sharing protocols are in use.

Q. We are running a business and exchange a lot of data on a daily basis. Will we be affected by the restrictions?
A. No, businesses that exchange a lot of data should not be affected unless they are using P2P or other file sharing software on their network.

Q. What are the upload/download restrictions for P2P and file sharing traffic?
A. There are no daily, weekly or monthly limits for this kind of traffic but it will be restricted based on the port numbers being used by the corresponding software. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide the exact upload/download limits (e.g. KB/s) or port numbers being blocked as we have not been informed of this.

Q. What will happen if I continue to use P2P and file sharing software?
A. In some cases, users who are constantly transferring files over P2P and other file sharing software maybe restricted further.

Q. Are there going to be additions to the current restrictions in the future?
A. Potentially yes if traffic from other P2P software increases or there's no notable decrease in bandwidth being used by these applications. This will be monitored over the next few months and further adjustments may be made.

Q. If I choose to cancel my service as a result of these changes, will there be any penalty for doing so?
A. No, unless you have signed up under a campaign.

If you have any further questions about the P2P and file sharing restrictions being implemented, please contact us.

Tags: bandwidth, connection, file sharing, internet, p2p