- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
re: Net Neutrality - Layman's Terms
Posted on 7/22/14 at 10:27 am to joeytiger
Posted on 7/22/14 at 10:27 am to joeytiger
Net Neutrality is a good thing. It means that all packets of information on the internet should be treated neutrally -- equally -- by your ISP regardless of their source or destination.
Here are a couple of reasons why eliminating Net Neutrality would be bad:
On the consumer end, you could very well be faced with a tough decision as to which ISP you want. The problem is, rather than choosing an ISP based on price and quality of service, you may have to choose based on which websites the ISP has made back-end deals with. For instance, one ISP may have a quality Netflix experience, while another may have a quality Hulu experience, but neither offers both. Also, the ISP may tier their services by which websites you can access at all (like TV), rather than speed of service. Couple these issues with the fact that most large ISPs basically have monopolies in their service areas, and the fact that these ISPs are fighting against allowing municipal broadband (and winning), and we have a bad situation for consumers.
On the business side, the ISPs would essentially be able to decide which online services succeed and which ones fail. As an example, you may know that Google makes most of their money from online ads, and Google serves up the ads you see on most websites. Without Net Neutrality, and ISP could throttle (or block completely) packets that originate from Google's servers. What this means is, if some small website (like TD) survives by making money on Google ads, then ISPs would be free to make those ads slow or never even load, essentially killing small websites (and not to mention hurting Google's revenue). Google would be left with no choice but to pay off the ISPs to "fix" this problem, and the same goes for every website that wants to survive. And they would have to pay multiple ISPs for access to their customers.
What it boils down to is, without Net Neutrality, ISPs would be free to double-dip, charging individual websites to allow their packets onto the ISPs network, and then charging the customer on the other end for delivery. It would be like Amazon paying UPS to deliver a package, and then UPS charging the customer again for the right to accept a package from Amazon specifically. And then UPS lobbies the government to disallow USPS from servicing the area.
Here are a couple of reasons why eliminating Net Neutrality would be bad:
On the consumer end, you could very well be faced with a tough decision as to which ISP you want. The problem is, rather than choosing an ISP based on price and quality of service, you may have to choose based on which websites the ISP has made back-end deals with. For instance, one ISP may have a quality Netflix experience, while another may have a quality Hulu experience, but neither offers both. Also, the ISP may tier their services by which websites you can access at all (like TV), rather than speed of service. Couple these issues with the fact that most large ISPs basically have monopolies in their service areas, and the fact that these ISPs are fighting against allowing municipal broadband (and winning), and we have a bad situation for consumers.
On the business side, the ISPs would essentially be able to decide which online services succeed and which ones fail. As an example, you may know that Google makes most of their money from online ads, and Google serves up the ads you see on most websites. Without Net Neutrality, and ISP could throttle (or block completely) packets that originate from Google's servers. What this means is, if some small website (like TD) survives by making money on Google ads, then ISPs would be free to make those ads slow or never even load, essentially killing small websites (and not to mention hurting Google's revenue). Google would be left with no choice but to pay off the ISPs to "fix" this problem, and the same goes for every website that wants to survive. And they would have to pay multiple ISPs for access to their customers.
What it boils down to is, without Net Neutrality, ISPs would be free to double-dip, charging individual websites to allow their packets onto the ISPs network, and then charging the customer on the other end for delivery. It would be like Amazon paying UPS to deliver a package, and then UPS charging the customer again for the right to accept a package from Amazon specifically. And then UPS lobbies the government to disallow USPS from servicing the area.
Posted on 7/22/14 at 10:33 am to Korkstand
Solid info. What's the chances of Net Neutrality ending? It's great for consumers obviously, but who is the government to say what private companies can do with their businesses? Very strange situation. Is there any recourse for Google and the like against the ISPs without Net Neutrality without government regulations?
Posted on 7/22/14 at 11:40 am to Korkstand
So even though Netflix at any given time can account for over a third of all Internet traffic, ISP's should be required to deal with them as if they're a small site like TD? Where is the incentive for an ISP to invest in improving its infrastructure if a third of that infrastructure is supporting companies that take away their cable/IPTV business? I don't won't a tiered system of Internet access options either, but IMO an ideal solution is somewhere in the middle. I realize this opinion is at odds with what 99% of people that post on forums believe and am prepared to be demonized
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News