Source: China Science News.
Cloud drive services whose real transfer speeds fall far short of the advertised rates; uploads and downloads throttled unless you buy membership. As mobile internet and smart devices spread, storing documents, photos and videos in the cloud has become a habit for many users, but throttling followed, hurting the experience and drawing complaints.
Acting on a MIIT directive that companies should improve how cloud drive services are delivered and ensure minimum speeds meet free users’ basic download needs, the Internet Society of China and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology organised the country’s main cloud drive firms to draw up and sign a self-regulation pact on guaranteeing user experience for personal cloud drive services on 17 November. The first eight signatories, including Baidu Netdisk, Tencent Weiyun, Tianyi Cloud Drive, HeCaiYun, Aliyun Drive, Xunlei Cloud Drive, 360 Safe Cloud Drive and NetEase Cloud Drive, pledged to launch products with “uniform speeds”.
“User experience speeds depend not only on the access rates provided by telecom operators but also on the service policies of internet applications,” said Zhang Chunfei, deputy head of the CAICT Policy and Economics Research Institute. Some internet companies throttle users for cost or revenue reasons, leaving experience rates well below access rates, with cloud drives the most typical case.
On one hand, growing user numbers have sharply raised labour, server and bandwidth costs, and the free model struggles to make money, so some providers have cut free storage, throttled downloads and tried paid membership. On the other hand, China’s personal cloud drive business has a huge user base but a small share of paying members, competition is fierce and actual profits are thin, which is why some firms play games with speeds to push users into paying.
“Throttling non-member uploads and downloads to push users into upgrading reflects the problem of a single, narrow profit model in personal cloud drive services,” said Dang Meimei, chief engineer at the CAICT Technology and Standards Research Institute. Developing paying users simply by limiting speeds also limits companies’ drive to innovate.
Under the pact, in equal network conditions, providers should offer the same upload and download speeds to all classes of users. Dang explained that “uniform speeds” means that whether a user is free or paying, the mechanisms for supplying network resources and configuring speeds should be identical, with no differential treatment and all limits removed. For companies that cannot yet offer uniform speeds because of their own service capability, business development or business model, the pact requires them to offer at least two limited-condition “uniform service” products for users to choose freely.
To make the pledge stick, the pact also requires smooth channels for consultation and complaints, better customer service, timely handling of user opinions and feedback channels, combining bottom-up supervision with top-down regulation.
Xie Cun, director general of the MIIT Information Communication Development Department, said the pact both responds promptly to public concerns and consolidates the results of network speed-up and fee-reduction efforts, while encouraging market players to break out of relatively monolithic development models, strengthen innovation in technology, products and business models, and enhance core competitiveness and industrial value.
“Cloud drive firms should centre on improving user experience, shifting from simply restricting users to induce payment to attracting users to use the service willingly, and so diversify,” Dang said. Firms could segment users and launch innovative products, offering free users uniform upload and download speeds for a period of time or up to a total file size, meeting user needs while easing cost pressure.
“Next we will build a long-term mechanism, improve complaint and supervision channels, publish progress to the public promptly, and ensure the pact’s terms are implemented, executed and publicised well, continuously improving the sense of gain, happiness and security people get from information services.”
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