re: Net neutrality devil's advocate

quote:

---

So firstly, you're saying netflix was actually was being charged for the bandwidth it used? Does NN not give netflix and similar services an advantage by allowing them to hog bandwidth at "r

---

No.

I spelled it out pretty clearly in the post.

Let's say Netflix had services with ISP ABC. They pay out the arse to get 20 gigabit/sec or some outlandish bandwidth. They pay thousands a month for that service, and their provider gives it to them.

But this group of Netflix subscribers on the other side of the fence, paying for their own bandwidth. 50 megabits/sec here, 35 megabits/sec there, and they are paying a tiered amount with Comcast agreed to in exchange for that degree of service.

But Comcast gets annoyed. Even though they have already been paid for an agreed data amount, they didn't actually expect users to USE what they fricking bought, and this shite is eating into their profit margins.

So they send Netflix an ultimatum, pay us again for service, or we will selectively hamper packets originating from you, regardless of the source, whose destinations are our customers.

At no point did Netflix get a free ride, nor did they use more than was sold to them. Their bill is likely well over 100k a month. The problem (if there was one and it wasn't simply greed), was Comcast oversold bandwith to THEIR customers, not to Netflix. And they then use their captive customers, who often have no other choice for quality Internet, as unwitting hostages to extort Netflix to sweep their (Comcast's, not Netflix) frick up under the rug.

quote:

---

Secondly, why would Comcast throttle said ISP when instead Comcast could charge them for the use of its facilities? Seems bad business on the part of comcast. Otherwise, said ISP can build their own fiber systems and get with it?

How is Comcast subsidized?

---

First question: nothing, but why not both? They have done this already.

Second: cost of entry for new fiber networks is a pretty much insurmountable barrier. You can count on one hand the number of companies associated with tier one backbones globally.

Third: the statement was in error. Looking into it, Comcast isn't directly subsidized as far as backbone infrastructure goes. They are closely associated with Level 3, whom they buy transit from.