In this paper the other side of net neutrality is covered. What will the negative affects on the ISP’s look like?
Billy Newman
NMC Telecommunication Policy
January 27, 2009
Net neutrality proposal
The Internet is a vast and growing infrastructure; there are countless consumers and developers using this infrastructure to move information. Net neutrality is a term for a growing argument that the internet and thus the providers of the network should maintain a neutral position on what content the end user chooses to consume. This proposition though does not practically account for the service provider’s financial investment in the creation of the infrastructure. Its inevitably in the best interests of the end user to allow the service provider to transport there data in the most efficient way they can.
Your Internet Service Provider acts as a gateway between the user and the Internet. It is the pipeline that enables you to access everything from your e-mail to remote file servers where you back up your important data not to mention browsing the Web. With a neutral broadband network an ISP would not be able to restrict access to parts of the internet that they find inconvenient. Comcast has also been taking actions to cut back on peer-to-peer usage across its network. “Last year, Comcast began throttling P2P traffic, especially Bit Torrent usage. The company says it’s trying to provide a better online experience for all users by keeping its network from becoming clogged with P2P traffic (Macworld). It is well know that P2P traffic is one of the largest uses of bandwidth on the consumer level. It is in Comcast’s or any other ISP’s best interest to make the legitimate consumers web experience as good as it can.
The popular argument for net neutrality currently consists of the belief that the ISP’s are not suitable stewards of their network and that without the mandate of neutrality from the FCC the ISP will turn their network into anything ranging from tiered, filtered, blocked or proprietary system. Though this concern is unwarranted, the ISP’s are still bound by other policies set up by the FCC. If the network owners began to make these unwarranted decisions would run that company out of business. The ISP’s are even more aware of the affects that a completely unneutral network would create for their business. Since service is what the network providers business they understand better than anyone else what the effects of unfair restrictions for consumers would create for their company.
It’s important for the ISP’s to maintain network management of their network infrastructure to promote the advancement of the technology. Back in the late 1990’s the ecommerce movement had sparked the popularity of the internet and network providers (at the time telephone service providers) Found that there was a wealth of new money to be made. To make this happen the ISP’s had to invest the initial funds to lay the lines to provide the bandwidth and service to its customers. As the internet changed, the demand from the users changed, 56k was no longer an acceptable bandwidth. As the demand was introduced for consumers to move to broadband the service providers had to develop ways to provide that service to their customers. This progression of the network infrastructure is still in place today, the ISP’s need to keep their network on par with the applications that the internet is providing. If that network provider can no longer deliver the level of service that is the standard on the net then the subscribers of the network will leave and get there service from another provider. The
The growing infrastructure of the internet is continues to demand more and more bandwidth from the providers of the service. For the ISP’s to continue to develop the internet into a more useable utility they must retain the ability to manage the functions of their network. Since they own the lines and the access to the network they should maintain the status of a responsible arbitrator. Inevitably the internet will need the efficiency of network management
Internet is a vast and growing infrastructure; there are countless consumers and developers using this infrastructure to move information. Net neutrality is a term for a growing argument that the internet and thus the providers of the network should maintain a neutral position on what content the end user chooses to consume. This proposition though does not practically account for the service provider’s financial investment in the creation of the infrastructure. It’s inevitably in the best interests of the end user to allow the service provider to transport there data in the most efficient way they can.