#1. "RE: The End of Net neutrality" In response to daniell (Reply # 0) Sat Dec-16-17 03:41 PM by jbmcmillan
It means the internet could end up liking buying channels in a cable tv package. As they are now allowed again to prioritize their own services above others or charge services to get the speed they need to operate which of course is passed on to us. This is not surprising as the FCC head is a former lawyer for Comcast that was doing that exact thing. This not only affects the US but worldwide as much of the internet traffic passes through the States. This only benefits large isps not us as consumers.Also not surprising is the 3-2 vote. 3 Republicans 2 Democrats
The Internet did quite fine from inception to the implementation of Net Neutrality in 2015. I remember Net Neutrality being highly contested at the time. I don't think it means a thing over all but there are always bad actors that pop up here and there.
The reason that Net Neutrality popped up in 2015 is that some big ISPs (AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast specifically) decided that they could make extra money if they not only charged users for Internet access, but slowed down/blocked services unless the people who ran those services paid the ISPs for access. Now, we're going to go back to that time. Big service companies like Google and Netflix can afford the added cost (but look for your Netflix bill to rise), but smaller companies will find they can't compete because they won't be able to afford the "good" pipe and will be shunted to the slow lane.