re: FCC plans to vote to overturn U.S. net neutrality rules in December

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Perhaps one day you will understand the internet. Or, maybe not. Either way, your grasp of this issue is very limited unfortunately.

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....mobile internet speed where the US ranks 46th, just ahead of Albania and behind Oman. Average download speed in the US is 23.05 Mbps which is less than half the average download speeds in Norway, the Netherlands and Hungary. Average upload speed in the US is 8.26 Mbps. While mobile download speed increased by almost 20% from July 2016 to July 2017, the US’s world ranking fell from 44th to 46th. Not good. How much do Americans pay for this relatively poor mobile service? The Global Index doesn’t include this information but data gleaned from the World Bank’s 2016 report on the economic benefits of employing digital technologies provides some insight. According to the World Bank, the monthly cost of owning and using a cell phone in the US is $35.62. Only the Netherlands ($41.47), Ireland ($40.33), France ($40.27), Spain ($37.80) and Switzerland ($36.02) have higher monthly mobile costs measured in US dollars. The US ranks sixth in the world in the cost for mobile internet and 46th in mobile internet speed. In other words, people in the US aren't getting what they're paying for.

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The market in the UK used to be much like ours here in the U.S.: British homes had two options for broadband service: the incumbent telephone company British Telecom (BT), or a cable provider. Prices were high, service was slow, and, as I mentioned above, Britain was falling behind its European neighbors in international rankings of broadband service.

The solution, the British government decided, was more competition: If consumers had more options when it came to broadband service, regulators reasoned, prices would fall and speeds would increase. A duopoly of telephone and cable service wasn't enough. "You need to find the third lever," says Peter Black, who was the UK government's top broadband regulator from 2004 to 2008.

Starting around 2000, the government required BT to allow other broadband providers to use its lines to deliver service. That's known as "local loop unbundling" -- other providers could lease the loops of copper that runs from the telephone company office to homes and back and set up their own servers and routers in BT facilities.

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When Black started work, only 12,000 British homes had multiple broadband providers. By the time he stepped down in 2008, about 5 million did, and today the number's closer to 6 million. "That's about a 500-fold increase in less than ten years," he says.

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Internet in the U.S. is a decade behind many EU states. You can get similar speeds to average U.S broadband for $6/month in the UK.

Regulation can create a more even playing field.. and it might sound distasteful but sometimes the solution to bad government is better government.

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Name one thing that has ever been made better through government intervention.

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Stop trying to pass off net neutrality as some kind of huge government intervention"

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'ism

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I live 45 mins west of Lawton. Satellite is not feasible due to the weather so almost no one uses it unless they live out on a farm and there is not other option

Most the ISPs do not cover the whole area.

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Agreed. It is politicians vs. the people. And the people are losing.

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However it’s pretty much a necessity in modern society.

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I think it should be regulated.

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