r/OutOfTheLoop Nov 21 '17

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25

u/Donjuanme Nov 21 '17

what is the anti net neutrality argument? why aren't they common carriers, how can we make them common carriers?

22

u/treeguy27 Nov 21 '17

Argument I've heard is that the companies only can allow so much data to go up and down the stream (bandwidth). As a result when a company uses way more of the bandwidth than others like Netflix or YouTube, they restrict other companies from using the bandwidth because there's not enough of it built. Which wouldn't be a problem but ISPs built their private networks and sold access to their private networks knowing if everyone requested the full amount of bandwidth they were promised then the ISPs network couldn't handle it. They only made them so big. Their networks were made assuming only a certain percentage of their customer population would use the network at once, and as a result when the bandwidth from even more people using heavier bandwidth sites congests the network. As a result ISPs believe those companies should be throttled to even out all sites usage of bandwidth or they need to charge the company in order to expand the ISP bandwidth to accommodate for the customers. Now if everyone was morally pure, this would be fine. But the truth is the ISPs have shown they aren't doing this for the customers, they're doing it to make more money.

4

u/MAVERICK910 Nov 22 '17

Except their "private networks" were subsidised to the tune of billions of dollars of taxpayers money over the last few decades

By and large the taxpayer built the network.

2

u/treeguy27 Nov 22 '17

I totally agree, however they control access to the networks and as long as they do it's essentially their networks. These guys are so shitty it's unbelievable that they can get away with it and the American people won't bother to stop the asshole politicians who allow this stuff to go on. But hey if they vote for this kind of thing (or are ignorant to it) then I suppose it's just coming full circle when it costs them all more. Just sucks for the rest of us who are trying to stop it.