3 ms·

The FCC Needs to Abolish a Lot More Than Net Neutrality

11 points by ry4n413 9y ago

lurr 9y ago
> Clauses like this have been particularly hard on Small ISPs, ah yes, the mythical mom and pop ISPs that are serving so much of the country. "Won't somebody please thing of the ~~children~~ small businesses"! > Such a deregulation would force companies that have exceeded their ability to function effectively due to their size, but are still being protected from competition by regulations to fail or it would lead them to act even more abusively, running rampant until it ends in disaster as we have seen time after time. It's not like Comcast is some failure as a company either. You need better justification than "regulation is sometimes bad" and blanket bucketing of regulation. The airlines example is fine, removing some regulation made sense there. Removing regulations that hurt the ability to build new lines and allow for monopolies also makes sense. I'm less convinced it makes sense to remove regulations requiring airlines to show customers the actual prices, including surcharges and baggage fees and anything else. I'm less convinced that it makes sense to get rid of net neutrality regulations. > allowing ISPs to create tiers of preferential service would afford users more control over the Internet, not less. they already can, and it's not a net neutrality issue. You can charge me for more transfer, or for more speed. that's fine. I pay 20 bucks more a month for a faster plan right now, have been for years. This type of argument misrepresents the issue.
- givinguflac 9y ago
  Well said.
Clubber 9y ago
>Clauses like this have been particularly hard on Small ISPs, and were one of the main reasons for the FCC’s re-evaluation of net neutrality. Here's the problem with that argument. Allowing small ISPs to compete might have be prudent 20 years ago, but it certainly isn't now. Small ISPs no longer exist. At this stage of the industry, the net neutrality regulation seems much more appropriate.
- parasitius 9y ago
  ..the whole point is is that they don’t exist due to over regulation existing way above beyond and before net neutrality. You’ve killed them already. Try comparing some of the known freer markets in internet such as those seen in Poland, Romania. The nonexistence of smaller ISPs at present isn’t a valid justification to continue the status quo that suffocated them in the first place.
- mkempe 9y ago
  There are many small, excellent ISPs; for instance Sonic [1] and Wave [2]. I hope people can and will now focus on the deeper problems behind awful Internet access in the USA, compared to most of the developed world -- local franchise monopolies, plus legislation against community-owned broadband (municipal, coop, etc. see what happened in Longmont CO). Once these problems are gone we won't need to worry about any issues supposedly solved by "net neutrality" regulation. SpaceX will soon offer satellite-based access. Maybe Google will restart its fiber program, too. [1] https://www.sonic.com https://www.sonic.com [2] https://residential.wavebroadband.com https://residential.wavebroadband.com
  - alexeldeib 9y ago
    Happy Wave customer checking in! I have the gigabit plan and regularly see my actual throughput close to that.
  - Clubber 9y ago
    Oh, look at that. Neither one of those companies service my area, as I suspect most areas. Again, the point being, there are no small ISPs anymore.

11 points by ry4n413 9y ago

lurr 9y ago

> Clauses like this have been particularly hard on Small ISPs, ah yes, the mythical mom and pop ISPs that are serving so much of the country. "Won't somebody please thing of the ~~children~~ small businesses"! > Such a deregulation would force companies that have exceeded their ability to function effectively due to their size, but are still being protected from competition by regulations to fail or it would lead them to act even more abusively, running rampant until it ends in disaster as we have seen time after time. It's not like Comcast is some failure as a company either. You need better justification than "regulation is sometimes bad" and blanket bucketing of regulation. The airlines example is fine, removing some regulation made sense there. Removing regulations that hurt the ability to build new lines and allow for monopolies also makes sense. I'm less convinced it makes sense to remove regulations requiring airlines to show customers the actual prices, including surcharges and baggage fees and anything else. I'm less convinced that it makes sense to get rid of net neutrality regulations. > allowing ISPs to create tiers of preferential service would afford users more control over the Internet, not less. they already can, and it's not a net neutrality issue. You can charge me for more transfer, or for more speed. that's fine. I pay 20 bucks more a month for a faster plan right now, have been for years. This type of argument misrepresents the issue.

givinguflac 9y ago
Well said.

Clubber 9y ago

>Clauses like this have been particularly hard on Small ISPs, and were one of the main reasons for the FCC’s re-evaluation of net neutrality. Here's the problem with that argument. Allowing small ISPs to compete might have be prudent 20 years ago, but it certainly isn't now. Small ISPs no longer exist. At this stage of the industry, the net neutrality regulation seems much more appropriate.

parasitius 9y ago
..the whole point is is that they don’t exist due to over regulation existing way above beyond and before net neutrality. You’ve killed them already. Try comparing some of the known freer markets in internet such as those seen in Poland, Romania. The nonexistence of smaller ISPs at present isn’t a valid justification to continue the status quo that suffocated them in the first place.
mkempe 9y ago
There are many small, excellent ISPs; for instance Sonic [1] and Wave [2]. I hope people can and will now focus on the deeper problems behind awful Internet access in the USA, compared to most of the developed world -- local franchise monopolies, plus legislation against community-owned broadband (municipal, coop, etc. see what happened in Longmont CO). Once these problems are gone we won't need to worry about any issues supposedly solved by "net neutrality" regulation. SpaceX will soon offer satellite-based access. Maybe Google will restart its fiber program, too. [1] https://www.sonic.com https://www.sonic.com [2] https://residential.wavebroadband.com https://residential.wavebroadband.com
- alexeldeib 9y ago
  Happy Wave customer checking in! I have the gigabit plan and regularly see my actual throughput close to that.
- Clubber 9y ago
  Oh, look at that. Neither one of those companies service my area, as I suspect most areas. Again, the point being, there are no small ISPs anymore.