Discussion Forums > Politics

If net neutrality fails, this is what you should expect...

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Mirgond:
Ix4, you can't compare the situation in Europe with that in the USA...
Here the competition is forced by the government

sdedalus83:
The ISP competition of the 90's was possible only because everyone was using the same client side infrastructure.

Once we started moving to cable and DSL, the infrastructure providers became the internet service providers since they were the entities spending the money to develop a new system and wanted to lock in the huge new revenue stream.  You are starting to see companies buying up big blocks of service from DSL and 3G providers to sell more tailored services at premium prices, but those appeal to very small niche markets.  There's also far more competition in urban areas; however, exclusivity deals really hamper any real competition.  Houston is a good example of that.  About 80% of the metro area is locked in by ATT, with Verizon taking up most of the rest.  Since Att doesn't have to compete in the areas where it has exclusive rights, they have no interest in developing any sort of real infrastructure.  It's left huge portions of the city with very limited access and the only competition is Comcast, which has its own cable monopoly in the city.  Verizon, on the other hand, has developed the shit out of its own network, driving people to live in certain parts of the city just so they can get decent internet service.

The exclusivity deals were justifiable 10 years ago as a way to get service in remote areas, but the deals were far too sweet for the fucking telecoms and they're now abusing the system to squeeze every last drop.

Onoz:
Today's lesson- Steal all the internets you can while you can.

Borror0:

--- Quote from: lx4 on October 28, 2009, 04:50:15 PM ---I dont have more then a very basic understanding of the concept of net neutrality. But it would seem to me that as long as no broadband supplier have a government granted monopoly, competition of the threat of possible competition would stop something like this from happening.

If there is a sizable amount of people who doesnt like this business model (which there surely would be) this would create a large the demand for an alternative. It shouldn't take long for a competitor to try to capitalize on this demand and offer an unrestricted service. 

--- End quote ---
I think you're underestimating money there is to make for ISPs if they go for that kind of model. They could accept subsidies from websites and corporations while also having less broadband to take care of. All in all, it's a win/win for them. Plus, in many places, the choices of ISPs are already not that great or nonexistent.

I think relic's overstating his point a bit but there is some truth behind it.

kurandoinu:
Surely this would harm companies like ebay and amazon? It would push people away from using them because they'd have to pay extra for it.

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