Net Neutrality Lives! FCC will Classify the Internet Under Utility-Style Rules

dgstorm

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We knew it would be coming soon. The FCC had their final meeting regarding the Net Neutrality debate. As the FCC Director Tom Wheeler shared in his proposal, the FCC will now classify the Internet under the Title II classification. This basically categorizes the Internet like a utility and allows the FCC to keep ISPs from blocking or slowing down traffic on wired and wireless networks. It also bans ISPs from charging content providers differently for any type of paid priority "fast lanes," even in the case of network congestion.

This classification will be applied to both wired and wireless broadband networks to prevent ISPs from favoring bits of data over each other. Here's a quote with a few more details regarding the resulting furor over the official announcement,

But the FCC's move to apply Title II to broadband has been viewed by cable operators, wireless providers and phone companies as a "nuclear option," with potentially devastating fallout from unintended consequences.

These companies argue that applying outdated regulation to the broadband industry will stifle innovation by hurting investment opportunities in networks. It could also allow the government to impose new taxes and tariffs, which would increase consumer bills. And they say it could even allow the government to force network operators to share their infrastructure with competitors.

Wheeler has said these fears are overblown. The agency is ignoring aspects of the Title II regulation that would apply most of the onerous requirements.

He said critics have painted his proposal as "a secret plan to regulate the Internet."

His response to that? "Nonsense. This is no more a plan to regulate the Internet than the First Amendment is a plan to regulate free speech. They both stand for the same concept: openness." ~ CNET

These new rules will be published in the Federal Register within the next few weeks.
 

wicked

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Great news! The internet wins!
 

johnomaz

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It'll only be time before the ISPs decide to do something different to circumvent this. Maybe create a company that handles all the data before it gets to ISP where rules for fast lanes apply before the ISP ever does anything.
 

deborah3756

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Well, for those of us who are Internet dummies, I don't understand this whole thing. Can someone please explain it in dummy terms. Thanks

Sent from my SM-G900V
 

jkaod

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Since when does having the government control or regulate anything make things better? Regulating like a utility or leveling the playing field as they say, reduces or eliminates competition which reduces or eliminates innovation and ultimately results in poorer service and increased cost. Think about your power company, water company etc...do you have any choices as far as a provider? How much innovation have you seen...None. Has your cost gone down? Not mine. It's always gone up,sometimes by a huge amount. How about banking? Have your banking costs gone down with all of the government regulation? Nope. Insurance is another perfect example. For those of you buying your own insurance, has your cost gone up or down over the past year since obamacare kicked in and basically took over the insurance industry. This doesn't count for anyone on obamacare as it is just a form of welfare subsidized by those that aren't on it. From my experience in talking with 40-50 patients a day, the costs have gone up a lot and the service they receive from the insurance company has gone down significantly.
Let the free market control things and then people have the choice to go with what ever company provides them with the best service for the lowest cost.
End of rant.
 
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boidsonly

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Charter got their price increase in last month ahead of this ruling-for me it went up $5, just because they could.

The real question is: Did Wheeler close the loopholes that were pointed out or did he leave them open as a compensatory gesture to the ISPs? Let's see what happens in the coming days/months.

@jkaod: all valid points except your last sentence. The ISPs have geographical monopolies and there is no alternative in most areas in every state. If/when the TW/Comcast and other mergers are approved, there will be no competition what-so-ever.

Sadly, the world is laughing at us...
 

pc747

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Since when does having the government control or regulate anything make things better? Regulating like a utility or leveling the playing field as they say, reduces or eliminates competition which reduces or eliminates innovation and ultimately results in poorer service and increased cost. Think about your power company, water company etc...do you have any choices as far as a provider? How much innovation have you seen...None. Has your cost gone down? Not mine. It's always gone up,sometimes by a huge amount. How about banking? Have your banking costs gone down with all of the government regulation? Nope. Insurance is another perfect example. For those of you buying your own insurance, have your cost gone up or down over the past year since obamacare kicked in and basically took over the insurance industry. This doesn't count for anyone on obamacare as it is just a form of welfare subsidized by those that aren't on it. From my experience in talking with 40-50 patients a day, the costs have gone up a lot and the service they receive from the insurance company has gone down significantly.
Let the free market control things and then people have the choice to go with what ever company provides them with the best service for the lowest cost.
End of rant.

You make a good argument.

Yes competition and free market spurs innovation. The reason why we are where we are at especially with smartphone tech is because apple, google, htc, samsung, motorola, etc are allowed to compete. With that said with something like internet you have to take in account that right now in many cities cable companies have almost exclusive access. Plus I do not think a company should be able to dictate what I can consume by slowing down netflix so they can push their own streaming service. Something like the information on the internet should not be allowed to be touched by said carrier. The competition between carriers and cable company should be based on infrastructure not them interfering with the net.
Lastly if a company is taking government kickbacks I think it is absurd to then complain about government interference. Be like taking money from the mob and then getting mad when they are demanding you fix a game. When you take the money you know there are strings attached. If you do not want the strings then don't take the money.
 

xeene

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best news of the year. google fiber can't come soon enough! F U cable!
 

kodiak799

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time to bump up the taxes to pay for all this new, beneficial regulation! Although "net neutrality" is and has been a debate of hypotheticals, your tax increases will be very real!
 

grenefroggie

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As an employee for an ISP, I would say wait until the actual rules are released before making any judgement.

I can say for one, I am not impressed or pleased. We had Commissioner Pai and Commissioner O'Reilly fighting on our side, and if you listened to them speak before the vote happened you will understand what they were fighting for.

I hope it gets blocked, I hope the courts shoot it down. Regulation costs money. I don't want to charge my customers more money just so I can be Title II compliant.

I'll give more on it later before the rules come out, and I will explain the position myself and our industry holds and why this is going to hurt consumers.
 
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pc747

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As an employee for an ISP, I would say wait until the actual rules are released before making any judgement.

I can say for one, I am not impressed or pleased. We had Commissioner Pai and Commissioner O'Reilly fighting on our side, and if you listened to them speak before the vote happened you will understand what they were fighting for.

I hope it gets blocked, I hope the courts shoot it down. Regulation costs money. I don't want to charge my customers more money just so I can be Title II compliant.

I'll give more on it later before the rules come out, and I will explain the position myself and our industry holds and why this is going to hurt consumers.
Look forward to a view from a person in the industry.
 

kodiak799

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Look forward to a view from a person in the industry.

It really bothers me how almost universally accepted - lauded - this move is. I don't think people really understand how all this works, how we got here, and what the potential negative consequences are. Not to mention, slow and fast lanes work quite well on the highway - people shouldn't be so quick to dismiss them as a negative for the internet. In fact, I think it's inevitable as all broadcast tv/on-demand/video moves to the internet and capacity demand grows exponentially - SOMETHING will happen to the pricing models or delivery methods such that video will not encroach on the bandwidth or cost to provide non-video content. So, yeah, I believe them when they say 1938 Title II regulation is woefully unequipped to address these issues.

And what really bothers me is Netflix is held up as the poster child, and that had nothing to do with net neutrality - it was a plain 'ol negotiation of a service contract between two parties.

Net neutrality is something important, and there are some bad scenarios indeed. But right now they're all just scenarios. This is a solution in search of a problem. Personally, I do see the govt as a much bigger threat to an open internet than "fast lanes". Not to mention all this could probably be avoided with deregulation and breaking up the big broadband providers.
 

grenefroggie

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Look forward to a view from a person in the industry.

I am sort of "in the industry" as an ISP. The way we provide services is different. To give you an idea, I am driving back from our trade show, which had over 600 attendees, the highest we have ever had.

People have been saying Broadband needs to be a utility. What they don't understand is how being a utility will drive up costs. Think about how much a landline costs these days. I know many AT&T customers in my area that pay almost as much for home service as they do for cell service.
 
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