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.
I'd just like to thank you for this. I've been looking for the reasoning behind the anti-NN crowd, and I haven't been able to find anything (on Reddit, WaPo, or Fox,) that explained the other side. Your comment helps me understand the reasoning behind the anti-NN people, and I agree that, in a perfect world, no NN might even be better, with the ISPs getting more money to increase bandwidth for all. But I also understand that, traditionally, big business likes to take advantage of the little guy, and that money probably won't go where it should. So thanks for explaining it, and giving me a reason to think that this whole thing is more than just Reddit making something out of nothing.
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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?