Net Neutrality: What does it mean for you?

Net Neutrality

Do you love the way your smartphone comes bundled with a data plan (most of the time it's mandatory) and text message plan? Do you love the way you can choose your different movie and sports bundles through your cable provider? Great! Well, corporate America has once again graced us with their familiar business model of bundling packages. This sounds like a good idea to begin with. You only pay for the amount of internet you use. Why is this bad? This is where it gets a little more complicated and for the end user Joe Schmoe, a lot more scarier. The telecommunications companies want to have a tiered internet. The more you pay, the faster your connection. This doesn't apply only to the end users, it also applies to the corporations and companies that want to get that information to us. The more the companies pay, the faster their information is sent to us. Its a two way street, with the bandwidth connection going as fast as the slowest connection speed. So you could have blazing T3 lines, but since you requested information from a small Mom & Pop shop running dial-up speed, you'll be sitting and waiting and waiting and waiting.

Not only are the connection speeds tiered, there is preferential treatment for their own content. The telco's may slow down or completely block content or services provided by their competitors. Now that we've ended racial segregation, lets start with internet segregation. I digress. Let's say Comcast and Google have entered an agreement that bars either from using anybody else's service. How would it feel to not be able to use Google search just because you're not on a Comcast connection?

Where do the bundles come in? Let's say you want a sports bundle, you could purchase and pay an extra fee on top of your basic cable costs. What about different search engines? There could be a bundle for that. And family orientated programming? I'm sure they'd create a bundle for that. And how fast do you want these bundles to be delivered? I'm sure they'd be happy to take more of your money to send content to you a smidge quicker. What's at stake here is the freedom to access any and all content, regardless of content provider or service provider, all at the same speed.

The internet was an even playing field (I'm speaking in past tense as if it has already happened, somehow, corporate America always wins) to all players. Small startups could easily start a site and promote their company and products. The cost of entry was relatively low. WIth tiered pricing, businesses would have to compete at the top tier to be competitive. To play at those levels, you have to be a big dog. Already established corporations and companies have no problem, it's the little guys that get stepped on. The rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Nothing would exacerbate this more than the proposed tiered internet. The big dogs continue to control the market while at the same time, eliminating any smaller competition from gaining ground.

If this post seems biased, it's probably because you work for one of the telco companies. Show your support for Net Neutrality and spread the word by visiting Save The Internet.