Without net neutrality there is nothing stopping Comcast from switching to a whitelist model where any destination IP outside their network is unreachable once

Without net neutrality there is nothing stopping Comcast from switching to a whitelist model where any destination IP outside their network is unreachable once it hits 0.01% of all outbound traffic. This would allow small one-offs like a doctor's office website but block just about everyone of even small size. Then you can pay Comcast for the "privilege" of being unblocked. They don't even need to truly block traffic, just refuse to upgrade peering links at POPs and let continued growth of traffic do the work for them, which is basically what they did to Netflix. If we unbundled the last mile and had true competition none of this would be a problem; people would just switch ISPs. Unfortunately we don't have competition. Don't tell Ajit Pai though; he thinks competition is "robust" because you can choose from metered wireless plans on already crowded spectrum. From the point of view of his paymasters that's true: Verizon would be happy to have you switch from Comcast so you can buy data by the GB on their wireless network. It is vastly more profitable for them! They inherited their core spectrum for a song and don't have to lay fiber to millions of homes. The capital costs are vastly lower than wired broadband and the scarcity jacks the prices. If Republicans still gave half a shit about a free market economy they'd follow the Texas electricity plan: A heavily regulated company that owns the last-mile lines. It charges cost plus a margin for future capital upgrades. Terminate at the closest NOC/POP and dump the traffic on the ISP's network. You could go even further and just task the infrastructure company with providing unlit fiber from every home and business; let the ISPs compete in providing the ONT/CPE so you can get innovation there. People forget: the federal government spent a ton of money to get electricity everywhere. Much of the power infrastructure wasn't funded by private companies. Even the trans-continental railroads (so lauded in Atlas Shrugged) weren't built by private enterprise. The federal government back-stopped the whole thing with money and soldiers.