Comcast to slow some Web traffic

Comcast Corp. plans to slow Internet service to its heaviest users during periods of congestion, after regulators ordered it to devise a new method for managing Web traffic.

The top Internet speeds for targeted customers will be reduced for as long as 20 minutes, keeping service to other users flowing, the cable firm said.

The Federal Communications Commission found Aug. 1 that Comcast had improperly blocked peer-to-peer programs that are used to share videos and other files. In an order posted on its website Wednesday, the FCC gave the Philadelphia-based company 30 days to provide details of its “unreasonable network management practices” and show how they would be changed by year-end.

“We’re going to really have to see all the detail and have all the information,” Marvin Ammori of the nonprofit group Free Press said about Comcast’s plan. Free Press and another group, Public Knowledge, filed the complaint that resulted in the FCC censure.