Net Neutrality Explained

[Horsepower]

Much easier now. Rights of way are now a matter of course. The courts have well-settled this issue.


As a matter of fact, existing rights of way with existing technology make this simple.

 

[Horsepower]

I'm not sure what you mean about "substantially contributing."
Rural taxpayers contribute to the construction of streets, sidewalks etc. Similarly, urban dwellers contribute to agricultural projects. I see no need to break this down a division of "if you want it you pay for it."

 

[harshness]

Much easier now. Rights of way are now a matter of course.

I'd like to see some backup for this claim that applies everywhere.

Many jurisdictions have established utility rights-of-way but many areas that are sparsely populated don't contemplate them until the properties are subdivided. Unfortunately it is those sparsely populated areas that we're talking about extending services to.

 

[Horsepower]

Sparsely populated? I'm not talking about the desert. I'm talking about areas that are quite populated that have these issues. I'm talking about areas that have electricity and phone service (sometimes by a local monopoly that charges outrageous prices,) Perhaps more of our population lives this way than you would think.

 

[Horsepower]

Also, the utility rights of way already exist. My TR example was a mere analogy of Government/Private sector cooperation.

 

[hank123]

LOL government fixes.

Remove the government from it and let other companies fix it.
I recall as a kid having a few phone companies. they bought numbers from the local phone company.

 

[harshness]

Also, the utility rights of way already exist.

In those situations it comes down to Return On Investment. If it costs a few thousand per customer to extend the service and it won't start making money for the foreseeable future, the ROI is negative.

Verizon tried FIOS and it left a bad taste in their mouth. Google tried fiber but they've cancelled expansion of that. The ROI just isn't there until people are willing to pay something much closer to what it costs.

I live at 25,000 wire feet from the telco CO so I had to lump it for a relatively long time until the local cable yokels came along and put in some coax. It must have worked out because they replaced it three years later with fiber. Where I live we're all at a little over 1 acre/home and the fiber hangs from rather well weathered utility poles. Lucky me.

 

[ncted]

US carriers allegedly throttling YouTube, Netflix, streaming

 

[harshness]

Regarding the slashdot article, I'm not sure that wireless broadband is really the major concern and that seems to be the only kind of broadband that this app measures. Wireless performance may be a telltale, but I think most are more concerned about how things are on their hardwired broadband connections.

T-Mobile and Sprint may be spared the wrath of this survey as they limit what streams they can to SD video.

 

[ncted]

Regarding the slashdot article, I'm not sure that wireless broadband is really the major concern and that seems to be the only kind of broadband that this app measures. Wireless performance may be a telltale, but I think most are more concerned about how things are on their hardwired broadband connections.

T-Mobile and Sprint may be spared the wrath of this survey as they limit what streams they can to SD video.

Yeah, I wondered whether the data took into account the broadly advertised stream throttling they do (e.g. StreamSaver on AT&T).

 

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Has anything changed in the months since “net neutrality” was repealed? I haven't heard much about it in the news, and people seem to have stopped freaking out about it on some of the other sites where I used to see alarmist references to it popping up in random places.

 

[harshness]

Has anything changed in the months since “net neutrality” was repealed? I haven't heard much about it in the news, and people seem to have stopped freaking out about it on some of the other sites where I used to see alarmist references to it popping up in random places.

At a little over four months in, it is perhaps too soon to tell. Some of the changes you may never hear about or haven't yet manifested as an increase in cost or a decrease in performance.

There's also so much other fodder for news that is being promoted as worthy of attention so close to the election.

 

[Justin Hill]

These pictures help explain what the Internet with net neutrality and no net neutrality could look like:

 

[Edgar_in_Indy]

The illustrations are nice, but I can't help but be skeptical about their accuracy since the internet was nothing like they show during the years before "net neutrality" existed. It will certainly be interesting to see during the coming months and years if all the frenzied sky-is-falling rhetoric was justified.

 

[Justin Hill]

The illustrations are nice, but I can't help but be skeptical about their accuracy since the internet was nothing like they show during the years before "net neutrality" existed. It will certainly be interesting to see during the coming months and years if all the frenzied sky-is-falling rhetoric was justified.

I just hope that nothing bad happens.

I'm also in favor of expanding our broadband to rural customers, but not at the expense of throttling other internet users to the point that their service is as slow as dial-up.

 

[harshness]

The illustrations are nice, but I can't help but be skeptical about their accuracy since the internet was nothing like they show during the years before "net neutrality" existed.

'net neutrality wasn't the order of the day for that long and many of those who weren't in compliance with it hadn't taken to task for their disregard.

If you measure the expansion of rural broadband, it seems to be moving glacially (if at all) and that may have been at the hands of the reversal. Expansion that has happened has often been initiated by governments rather than service providers. The neutrality issue itself perhaps isn't as damaging as the utility-type regulation that was tossed out with it.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Expansion that has happened has often been initiated by governments rather than service providers. The neutrality issue itself perhaps isn't as damaging as the utility-type regulation that was tossed out with it.

This was the primary argument I had heard in favor of net neutrality repeal. Repeal is supposed to remove barriers to expansion and competition among ISP's. There was (is?) little incentive to build out fiber networks to sparsely populated rural areas, especially when those ISP's are treated like a regulated public utility. Time alone will tell if repeal will make any difference in that regard. I live in such an area myself; will keep you all posted.

 

[harshness]

This was the primary argument I had heard in favor of net neutrality repeal.

I can't imagine where this idea came from. If things are driven entirely by ISP Return On Investment (ROI), fringe areas aren't more likely to get attention -- quite the contrary. The method successfully used in the past to extend services (electricity, telephone service) was to require the utilities that had a high ROI to provide services to the low ROI areas or send money to the Rural Electrification Administration or similar regional gubmint agencies (like the TVA) and let them sort it out.

Absent some level of regulation, what is the motivation to take on these less desirable investments? Nobody is going to do battle over something guaranteed to lose money unless someone has a knife to their throat.

I have cable-based broadband because the franchise agreement with the local gubmint demands it. The phone company offers "up to" 512Kbps. Franchise agreements don't apply to wireless carriers which might explain why I can only use Verizon (actually, if I stand in a picture window facing a tower, I may get two bars with AT&T but if the blinds are closed, its curtains).

 

[Justin Hill]

 

[comfortably_numb]

Businesses exist to make money. They have a responsibility to their shareholders to maintain profit margins. If regulations are imposed they will comply.