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Instead of thinking about this in terms of being the consumer, this of it from the entrepreneur's point of view. Someone has a great idea, starts up a company and builds a website. Should this person's website operate on an equal playing field with all the other commercial websites? Or should other similar companies be able to make deals with the internet provider that will speed up their websites, but slow down our entrepreneur's to the point where he poses no competition and has no chance to succeed? This is where we're headed unless the internet providers are regulated to prevent them from manipulating speed. Entrepreneurs will have the deck stacked against them and big business will win.
That's like saying don't buy water or electric. There is some services that are essential and the internet is one of them.
Actually, no, it's not. It's a convenience. As I said, no one wants to be inconvenienced. You don't "need" to watch videos, or stream music, or type in to Facebook, or play games, or even send 50 emails a day. We think we need it, but we could, believe it or not, get by without it for a short period of time, yes, even at work.
Inconvenient? Sure, but it's possible. Instead of asking the government to help with everything, maybe people could sacrifice to make changes. If it really meant anything to anyone, they would do that.
Yes it is. There are places out here in Arizona where you have no option.
What I meant was, are people so tied to their internet, like it's some sort of umbilical cord, that they couldn't figure out how to live without it for a short while?
If people can get a large number of others to squat in some park and play drums to protest, surely enough of those who complain about monopolies could figure out how to stage a protest. The beauty is, no one has to actually travel anywhere. All they would have to do is call up their providers and canx their service. All of them, at the same time. Flood those phones with cancellation requests. Guaranteed those companies would take notice.
You hit a company with enough loss in a very short period of time, those companies take notice.
But that might mean you have to go without your service, that you (general you) complain about at every opportunity, for a short while. It won't take long. I'll bet you that it would be easy to find 500,000 people who are fed up with the monopolies that ISPs have in some areas. If the average rate of monthly charges was $60 a month, that's a loss of 3 million in one day.
Or we could whine about the monopolies, don't stand up for anything, and wait for the government to come in and make everything worse.
Comcast's practices are based on their protected monopoly status that is based on the FCC protecting their last mile of copper/fiber, as well as the various bundling, anti-satellite, anti-wifi, anti-competition rules that bar anyone from dethroning them with better service.
I'm pretty sure that net neutrality has nothing at all to do with "last mile" I am happy to stand corrected.
In the case you mention, Commcast has built their own network, originally to deliver television via coaxial cable to the doorstep. They were able to provide internet via cable when the DOCSIS protocol was developed maybe 20 years ago of so. Since it is Commcast's cable, they are under no obligation to make it available to anyone else for whatever reason. However, if a customer subscribes to Commcast internet service, Commcast is obligated to provide connectivity, but has no say over the content accessed by the customer. Again, this is no different than telco twisted pair to the customer for DLS service.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Volobjectitarian
How exactly does giving the FCC more power to give ComCast more protection help your NetFlix streaming? Better idea - get the FCC out of the way of unlicensed spectrum, and let anyone transmit packets according to whatever technology backbone they can? Remove the FCC, and in 5 years or less, the open source movement destroys the telecomm giants, who exist on the corpse of an obsolete model and only do so because the FCC keeps the competition away.
Unless I am misunderstanding you completely, the FCC absolutely SHOULD be protecting the consumer against the oligarchical practices of the ISPs (at best - at worst their tendency to practice monopoly) For example, the FCC protects all users of radio and television spectrum against a big bully corporation from just broadcasting at outrageous power levels to drown out other radio and television stations.
No, someone must stand up for the consumer and keep the playing field level. That is quite the appropriate role of government. Otherwise the producers will gobble up all the space and screw us.
Net neutrality is ALL about a level playing field, just as we have a level playing field in our road and highway system (prior to diamond lanes and toll lanes, that is) and in our voice telephone call networks. I mean, can you imagine if AT&T were to charge you extra to deliver you phone calls to a friend who is on Sprint's network? Betting you would be all in favor of net neutrality in such a case.
Last edited by chuckmann; 11-10-2014 at 10:43 PM..
What I meant was, are people so tied to their internet, like it's some sort of umbilical cord, that they couldn't figure out how to live without it for a short while?
If people can get a large number of others to squat in some park and play drums to protest, surely enough of those who complain about monopolies could figure out how to stage a protest. The beauty is, no one has to actually travel anywhere. All they would have to do is call up their providers and canx their service. All of them, at the same time. Flood those phones with cancellation requests. Guaranteed those companies would take notice.
You hit a company with enough loss in a very short period of time, those companies take notice.
But that might mean you have to go without your service, that you (general you) complain about at every opportunity, for a short while. It won't take long. I'll bet you that it would be easy to find 500,000 people who are fed up with the monopolies that ISPs have in some areas. If the average rate of monthly charges was $60 a month, that's a loss of 3 million in one day.
Or we could whine about the monopolies, don't stand up for anything, and wait for the government to come in and make everything worse.
If you were to do such a thing you wouldn't even scratch the surface. Something like this would have to be organized by so many that it would have to cut the company to its knees. A move like this would make them take note, sure.
K everyone disconnect your internet and tv! Except that won't happen will it? People are greedy and do not want to be inconvenienced (myself included).
We can do that, or we can keep the Internet Net Neutral and encourage competition.
Actually, no, it's not. It's a convenience. As I said, no one wants to be inconvenienced. You don't "need" to watch videos, or stream music, or type in to Facebook, or play games, or even send 50 emails a day. We think we need it, but we could, believe it or not, get by without it for a short period of time, yes, even at work.
Inconvenient? Sure, but it's possible. Instead of asking the government to help with everything, maybe people could sacrifice to make changes. If it really meant anything to anyone, they would do that.
Well, if you look at the internet from the infrastructure standpoint, and not from the point of view of the individual, you would see that infrastructure leads to more commerce and more prosperity. You might as well say that connecting to my various utility companies is a convenience, because I can always dig my own well for water and power my home completely on propane from a big old tank in my front yard. Hell, an ATM card is just a convenience as is my bank account, because I can always take my pay in cash and do all my business in cash. Nor do I need the convenience of email, not that of the post office, not that of the telephone company, because I can always just walk or drive to wherever to plain old talk to my friends and family all over the place.
OR we can see the internet for what it is. Another great infrastructure yielding great benefits to all of us, just as do roads and highways, telephone calling systems, banks and ATM networks, and all those other "conveniences" which increase productivity, commerce, and, yes, convenience.
What I meant was, are people so tied to their internet, like it's some sort of umbilical cord, that they couldn't figure out how to live without it for a short while?
You must not be a very techy person. It's nearly impossible to live without the internet in this day an age. I work from home. Going without internet for even a short while is not an option. Many people are using Netflix as an example, which is totally valid, but imagine Comcast or Verizon throttling VPN traffic or forcing me to pay extra to prioritize VPN traffic for work. I now cannot do my job. Data is just data and it's important to make ISP's treat it all equal, whether it is VPN traffic, Netflix or stupid cat videos.
The other important thing in this debate is to protect the backend services. I already pay Verizon for access to the internet roads. I pay Netflix for access to their service. Both items are already paid for. Why is Verizon allowed to turn around and charge Netflix for delivering that content to me. I'm the one who paid Verizon for the internet connection already. I am the one who requested Netflix's service...they are not forcing it upon me. Why should Verizon charge twice for the same content?
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