DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Penny Can
HTML https://pennycan.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Off-Topic
*****************************************************
#Post#: 29148--------------------------------------------------
Re: Net Neutrality
By: Mac Date: June 25, 2014, 11:33 am
---------------------------------------------------------
A very interesting read...
[glow=red,2,300]Tim Wu; The Father of Net Neutrality Returns to
Do Battle With Comcast[/glow]
HTML http://www.wired.com/2014/06/tim-wu/
HTML http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/tim-wu-660x495.jpg
HTML http://www.wired.com/2014/06/tim-wu/
#Post#: 30230--------------------------------------------------
Re: Net Neutrality
By: Mac Date: August 6, 2014, 8:31 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[glow=red,2,300]You won’t believe what happens when Comcast and
TWC face actual competition[/glow]
[img]
HTML http://i2.wp.com/cdn.bgr.com/2014/05/comcast-twc-e1402066564457.jpg?w=625[/img]
For the past couple of years, we’ve been alternately amused and
horrified whenever cable company bigwigs have told us that we
don’t really “need” fast speeds like those offered by Google
Fiber, so why bother significantly investing in infrastructure
upgrade? It turns out, however, that both Comcast and Time
Warner Cable have quickly changed their tunes now that they’re
feeling the actual heat of free market competition for the first
time in years.
Consumerist notices that Comcast and TWC both have just happened
to significantly boost speeds in the Kansas City metropolitan
area, which also happens to be the first area where Google has
launched Google Fiber. These speed increases aren’t anything
close to what Google is offering with Google Fiber, of course —
Comcast customers who subscribe to its 25Mbps service will get a
speed boost up to 50Mbps, 50Mbps customers will get a speed
boost up to 105Mbps and 105Mbps customers will get bumped up to
150Mbps, all completely free of charge.
We imagine that there have been a lot of very tense, awkward
calls in the Kansas City area recently from customers who are
informing their cable companies that their slow, overpriced
services will no longer be required. In fact, I imagine many of
those calls go something like this:
[quote] Comcast rep: Hello, thank you for calling Comcast,
how may I help you?
Caller: I’d like to cancel my subscription to Comcast,
please.
Comcast rep.: We are the No. 1 provider of Internet and TV
service in the entire country. Why is it that you’re not wanting
to have the No. 1 rated Internet service, the No. 1 rated TV
service available?
Caller: Because Google Fiber is kicking the crap out of you
and offering me a 1Gbps service for just $70 per month. Right
now I’m paying that much for your 25Mbps service.
Comcast rep.: Why don’t you want the faster speed? Help me
understand why you don’t want faster Internet.
Caller: You don’t have the fastest Internet. Google Fiber
does. What part of “1Gbps” do you not understand?
Comcast rep.: So you’re not interested in the fastest
Internet in the country? Why not?
Caller: Are you kidding me. 1Gbps is faster than 25Mbps. And
I’m getting it for the same price that I was paying you guys for
subpar service.
Comcast rep.: I’m just trying to figure out what it is about
Comcast service that you don’t want to keep?[/quote]
You get the idea.
UPDATE: Comcast chimes in to say that Kansas City wasn’t the
only market where it announced these upgrades — apparently
customers in California and in Houston, Texas are getting big
speed boosts too. We’ll be eager to see whether Comcast expands
this program to more markets and whether it gets even more
ambitious in boosting speeds to be more on par with what Google
Fiber and other municipal fiber networks such as the one in
Chattanooga, Tennessee are offering.
#Post#: 31888--------------------------------------------------
Re: Net Neutrality
By: Mac Date: October 31, 2014, 11:16 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[glow=red,2,300]FCC To Propose New “Hybrid” Approach To Net
Neutrality[/glow]
[quote]The FCC proposed their new, “fast lane” net neutrality
rule back in May. Since then pretty much everyone — from
Congress to 3 million regular people, to members of the FCC —
has objected in one way or another. And now it looks like FCC
Chairman Tom Wheeler is going to revise the plan.
The Wall Street Journal reports that sources in the know say
that Wheeler is close to settling on a “hybrid” proposal.
The new stab at net neutrality would not flat-out reclassify
broadband service as a common carrier under Title II, as most
consumer advocates have asked for.
Instead, the new plan would split broadband into two service
categories. One would cover retail broadband, and be defined as
the internet access services that consumers buy. The other would
cover “back-end” broadband, as the WSJ puts it, “in which
broadband providers serve as the conduit for websites to
distribute content.”
That back-end service would then be classified as a common
carrier, while retail broadband would not.
If that proposal were to be adopted, that would mean that
internet traffic would be regulated in two different ways
depending on how far away from you, the end user, it is. Traffic
moving from its origination point on some server somewhere,
through transit ISPs, would be treated under common carrier
rules. Traffic coming through the last mile of cable, into your
house, would not be.
That would theoretically mostly prevent broadband providers from
engaging in fast lane/slow lane behavior and throttling or
blocking content — but only in the back-end. It’s still a golden
opportunity for retail ISPs (the Comcasts and Verizons of the
world) to make things difficult for the consumers who actually
receive that content.
As the WSJ puts it, the proposal would “leave the door open for
broadband providers to offer specialized services for, say,
videogamers or online video providers, which require a
particularly large amount of bandwidth. The proposal would also
allow the commission to explore usage-based pricing at some
point, in which consumers are charged based on how much data
they use and companies are able to subsidize traffic to their
websites or applications.”
Want to spend all your evenings in League of Legends? You’ll
want the Gamer High Score Plus package, which actually lets you
connect to that without lag for only an extra $19.99 per month.
Really into watching House of Cards in 4K on your shiny new
ultra-HD TV every night? You’ll need the Feature Film Fan bundle
for that.
The point of a hybrid plan is to try to appease all corners, but
so far this seems likely to be a flop on that front. Consumer
advocacy groups see all the potential pitfalls that remain for
end users, and aren’t pleased.
Free Press president and CEO Craig Aaron, taking full advantage
of today’s holiday, said in a statement, “This Frankenstein
proposal is no treat for Internet users, and they shouldn’t be
tricked. No matter how you dress it up, any rules that don’t
clearly restore the agency’s authority and prevent specialized
fast lanes and paid prioritization aren’t real Net Neutrality.”
Nor are big businesses enthralled with this approach. Verizon
has strongly suggested that they will once again take the FCC to
court over any attempt to reclassify broadband services, saying
they do not think a reclassification approach would “withstand
judicial review.” And an industry official told that WSJ that
while hybrid plans might be seen as fractionally more tolerable,
they would almost certainly meet the same legal challenges from
ISPs as a full attempt at using Title II would.
Rumor has it the FCC wants net neutrality done with before the
end of the year, which gives them two months to get through any
new proposal. They are in an unenviable position; they
absolutely cannot make everyone happy. But the more they try,
the more they seem to fail to make anyone happy. [/quote]
#Post#: 31893--------------------------------------------------
Re: Net Neutrality
By: Chiprocks1 Date: October 31, 2014, 1:45 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
lol@being done before the year is up.
Never gonna happen.
*****************************************************
DIR Previous Page
DIR Next Page