Net Neutrality

[falcon23]

WHat do the satellite providers fall under with their FAP(fair access policy)...they only allow you to download and upload a certain amount in any 30 day rolling period.If you go over it,they throttle you down,and if still abused,they have at their discretion the ability to cut you loose..

[Penguin]

Just to make sure I am not misreading your post;  You do realize there are real costs associated with the amount of data being moved, over a connection, at any given point in time?

I ask that question as there are a high number of people who really believe there are no costs associated with any amount of data being moved around on the Internet.

What resource do you need to move it?  Electricity?  I could see that.  Am I right?

-Penguin

[mthrockmor]

See Rule #14

[2bighorn]

WHat do the satellite providers fall under with their FAP(fair access policy)...they only allow you to download and upload a certain amount in any 30 day rolling period.If you go over it,they throttle you down,and if still abused,they have at their discretion the ability to cut you loose..

ISPs (terrestrial) can and do the same.

[Simaril]

Skuzzy -

yeah, that's actually my point. It seems to me that if people were bearing their own freight better, then the cost structure of the net would more likely work itself out without specific intervention. So if the Netflixes (Netfli? Netfluxes?) payed in ways proportionate to their actual usage of outgoing bandwidth, and if end users payed according to their incoming bandwidth, then neutrality would be less of a political issue.

In another framework - when it's "all you can eat", the average guy ends up paying extra to cover the cost of the gluttons. Or, back when water wasn't metered very few people thought twice about letting the hose run down the driveway for hours. Or, when bonuses are only calculated based on short term sales, commodities traders couldn't care less about long term consequences. Or, (as I said above) when flood insurance rates are kept artificially low, buyers don't appreciate just how high the risk of flooding is.

I just think that in for people to make good rational decisions about how to spend their money, the prices they see need to have realistic relationship to the actual cost of the products in question.

[mthrockmor]

See Rule #14

[bj229r]

Just to make sure I am not misreading your post;  You do realize there are real costs associated with the amount of data being moved, over a connection, at any given point in time?

I ask that question as there are a high number of people who really believe there are no costs associated with any amount of data being moved around on the Internet.

To that end, (dial-up here, really have no clue)Do ISP's not charge more for users who consume huge amounts of bandwidth? (have to assume movie downloaders are the prime culprit) If the system doesn't work that way, they need to put down the keyboard and study econ 101.....prolly more behind this than I know....at least I hope there is

[guttboy]

Very interesting discussion!  I am glad the OP brought up the question because to be honest, I wasn't aware of the issue really.

[Dichotomy]

*post deleted

Wow 

I mean that in a good way. 

[2bighorn]

To that end, (dial-up here, really have no clue)Do ISP's not charge more for users who consume huge amounts of bandwidth? (have to assume movie downloaders are the prime culprit) If the system doesn't work that way, they need to put down the keyboard and study econ 101.....prolly more behind this than I know....at least I hope there is

Charging every customer per byte would create too much overhead. What most ISPs do is overselling. They calculate certain amount per customer, most burn less, few more, it averages out. Consumer in principle has nothing against the caps, if reasonable. Comcast 250GB vs attempted TW 40GB caps, for example.

New rules really do not protect consumer, nor freedom of information, it's just a turf war among big ISPs.  The only thing which would help the competition is to prohibit big players to be content providers as well (Comcast NBC merger, Time Warner etc).