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> The US has some of the most expensive Internet access in the world. In most places it's pretty crap too. Many places have no competition. Some providers are i
by kodah 5y ago
> The US has some of the most expensive Internet access in the world. In most places it's pretty crap too. Many places have no competition. Some providers are in clear breach of contract in not providing customers service as they promised to do.
People say this, but we had net neutrality for years and it never improved the reach of broadband into rural areas. It mostly benefited cities.
I would like to see a version of net neutrality that doesn't just do the bare minimum in terms of encouraging broadband development in rural areas, starting with the FCC redefining broadband so their little map is more accurate to how slow the speed and dismal the access really is.
- vlunkr 5y agoNet neutrality isn't really related to end-user Internet speed. It's just about ensuring that all traffic is treated and billed equally.
- d110af5ccf 5y ago> we had net neutrality for years and it never improved the reach of broadband into rural areas The issue there isn't net neutrality but rather open access. Countries with affordable internet generally have open access requirements for network operators. Net neutrality is a separate issue to do with ISPs attempting to double dip, leveraging a large customer base in order to do so.
- msh 5y agoI don't think that is the purpose of net neutrality. Net neutrality is needed when there is not good competition. If there is only one or two ISP its important that they can't mess with the basic service.
- kodah 5y agoI guess the irony that I've observed here is how little HNers know about the rest of the world. Usually rural areas are in this exact scenario.
- tssva 5y agoBesides the confusion regarding what net neutrality is that others have pointed out I would also like to point out that we had net neutrality for about 2 years from 2015 to 2017.