Obama wants to make the internet a utility

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CrimsonNagus

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I've made it known here that I'm a huge supporter of net neutrality but, this has nothing to do with it. Net Neutrality did not cover wireless providers in the same way that it covered ISPs. Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile (and all the wireless providers) have and have had throttling policies in place for many, many, many years regardless of Net Neutrality.

We deal with this on a monthly basis at work from Verizon. If you hit your data limit for your plan, Verizon makes the services practically unusable because of throttling. We have MiFi devices that have "unlimited data" but, only the first 50GB is at LTE speed. Once you hit 50GB, it slows to >1 Mbps.
 

uafanataum

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I've made it known here that I'm a huge supporter of net neutrality but, this has nothing to do with it. Net Neutrality did not cover wireless providers in the same way that it covered ISPs. Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile (and all the wireless providers) have and have had throttling policies in place for many, many, many years regardless of Net Neutrality.

We deal with this on a monthly basis at work from Verizon. If you hit your data limit for your plan, Verizon makes the services practically unusable because of throttling. We have MiFi devices that have "unlimited data" but, only the first 50GB is at LTE speed. Once you hit 50GB, it slows to >1 Mbps.
If you want 16 hot dogs you buy the large pack, not the small one. If you want unlimited LTE you pay for that instead of the 5 gig plan. This is not a hard concept.
 

CrimsonNagus

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Re-read my post. Our MiFi devices our on a business “unlimited” plan but only the first 50GB is at full speed. This isn’t something Verizon advertises, we only found out after the throttling started to happen and we call CS where they admitted to throttling after 50GB. Verizon’s words “you can use as much data as you want, but it is not all going to be at the fastest speeds.” This is the best plan the offer for MiFi devices.

Anyway, I’m not here to argue about throttling practices or the different plans they offer. My point was that throttling by wireless carriers is not something that net neutrality covered.
 

IMALOYAL1

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Oct 28, 2000
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An opinion piece from a writer for Telecom.com LINK

‘Save the Internet’ bill passes in House by 232-190 votes.....................This bill proposes the re-introduction of net neutrality rules, undermining and unravelling the equally pompously named ‘Restoring Internet Freedoms’ Order introduced in June last year.......this vote will be chalked up as a victory, but ultimately it is a sign politics is broken and the General Public is getting screwed by self-righteous and self-serving politicians.......

The majority of the argument is based around the definition of the telcos, but this is not a debate which interests the consumer therefore needs to be ‘sexed up’. The Democrats want a Title II designation, a common carrier or utility, where as the Republicans want Title I, a communications service and therefore shielded from more stringent regulation. This is the crux of the net neutrality argument.
When you break the argument down, have a look at what protections are already being afforded to US citizens, strip away the political propaganda and emotional baggage, this debate seems to be more about defying the Republican stance than achieving anything beneficial for the consumer.
What is wrong with the middle-ground? It would certainly be representative of the majority of attitudes across the US, but it is hardly going to attract PR inches and photoshoot opportunities for those pearly whites. Politics is broken and there’s nothing the sensible or reasonable can do about it.

The best is this quote....
politics is nothing but pageantry and theatre with the idea of serving the greater good dying with the invention of teeth whitening services.
 

cuda.1973

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So-called "net neutrality" is really a scam, to allow companies like Google and FakeBook to operate under the protection of the gubbament, from competition and lawsuits. Like everything else the gubbament does, what they call it is something that sounds great (in theory), but in reality is a load of dung.

It is really that simple. And, as usual, the sheeple fall for the scam, and get upset.
 

rgw

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I feel like this is one of those things that will take more than a year for the repercussions to be felt. Businesses are shrewd. They won't press their advantages too quickly because the system shock to customers would lead to blowback. They'll boil us like a lobster and most customers won't realize they're getting cooked.
 

jthomas666

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I feel like this is one of those things that will take more than a year for the repercussions to be felt. Businesses are shrewd. They won't press their advantages too quickly because the system shock to customers would lead to blowback. They'll boil us like a lobster and most customers won't realize they're getting cooked.
My cable company quietly enacted data caps.
 

CharminTide

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Switch to a different provider if data caps are so important. It's a free market so if these companies continue to harm their customers then better companies win.
Oh for sure, lemme check for alternate ISPs at my address so I can construct a price comparison spreadsheet.

*checks*

Nope, there's just the one. Kinda like my choice between power and water utilities.
 

chanson78

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Oh for sure, lemme check for alternate ISPs at my address so I can construct a price comparison spreadsheet.

*checks*

Nope, there's just the one. Kinda like my choice between power and water utilities.
Are you implying that internet service is somewhat similar to a utility? If only there had been someone in the FCC who had thought along similar lines and attempted to classify the internet as a utility.
 

crimsonaudio

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Oh for sure, lemme check for alternate ISPs at my address so I can construct a price comparison spreadsheet.

*checks*

Nope, there's just the one. Kinda like my choice between power and water utilities.
Honestly, that's odd. We live in a pretty sub-suburban / rural area (way outside of the populated area) and yet we have three separate ISPs available. I get that if you live in the boonies it might be tough, but I've not seen any metro-ish area in the last decade that didn't have multiple options.
 

rolltide_21

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Honestly, that's odd. We live in a pretty sub-suburban / rural area (way outside of the populated area) and yet we have three separate ISPs available. I get that if you live in the boonies it might be tough, but I've not seen any metro-ish area in the last decade that didn't have multiple options.
I do live in the boonies and we have two. A neighboring town has three all in the middle of the Bankhead National Forest. Now, are they good for the $? That’s a different discussion


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

92tide

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I do live in the boonies and we have two. A neighboring town has three all in the middle of the Bankhead National Forest. Now, are they good for the $? That’s a different discussion


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my step mom on the outskirts of hooverville can't get one that works where they live. she's been without since april or so.
 

rolltide_21

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my step mom on the outskirts of hooverville can't get one that works where they live. she's been without since april or so.
Yeah, the internet in town there is not good much less outside of town, which surprises me. Having Smith Lake near us helps. Money talks and lots of wealthy people live out there. They want to keep them happy.


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TIDE-HSV

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Honestly, that's odd. We live in a pretty sub-suburban / rural area (way outside of the populated area) and yet we have three separate ISPs available. I get that if you live in the boonies it might be tough, but I've not seen any metro-ish area in the last decade that didn't have multiple options.
Huntsville has four, but, in the county, for the most part, it's one - Charter. Interesting enough, here in HSV, one provider is a utility, Huntsville Utilities. They're installing the fiber and own the network. The initial ISP will be Google, but it will be open thereafter to any competitor. I'm waiting for the HU fiber to be completed to my mountaintop to sign up with Google, since those customers seem more satisfied than ATT fiber. Below is a map showing how widespread the lack of competition is...

Vice
 

Jon

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Huntsville has four, but, in the county, for the most part, it's one - Charter. Interesting enough, here in HSV, one provider is a utility, Huntsville Utilities. They're installing the fiber and own the network. The initial ISP will be Google, but it will be open thereafter to any competitor. I'm waiting for the HU fiber to be completed to my mountaintop to sign up with Google, since those customers seem more satisfied than ATT fiber. Below is a map showing how widespread the lack of competition is...

Vice
It is a great map

but the image link doesn't work, I tried
 

CharminTide

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Honestly, that's odd. We live in a pretty sub-suburban / rural area (way outside of the populated area) and yet we have three separate ISPs available. I get that if you live in the boonies it might be tough, but I've not seen any metro-ish area in the last decade that didn't have multiple options.
I live in the second largest metro area in my state, and there’s only one option at my address (barring satellite). There are about 3 companies that service the city, but their infrastructure doesn’t overlap. The ISPs have divided up the map quite nicely, and intentionally.
 
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