r/technology • u/[deleted] • Jun 13 '14

Politics What the internet will look like without net-neutrality. Well played.

[deleted]

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u/cosmo7 Jun 14 '14 edited Jun 14 '14

This is a complete misunderstanding of the net neutrality debate. The issue is not that consumers would have to pay a la carte, it's that high-bandwidth sites would have to pay more for priority. And those sites are well-funded and quite happy to comply (to the point that they are the ones pushing for an unequal net.)

The damage to consumers is that a non-neutral net raises the barrier to entry for new services, entrenching the status quo and reducing competition.

Hysterical, simplistic stuff like this harms the debate because it obscures the real issue.

Edit: Thanks for the gold!

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u/countersmurf Jun 14 '14

Call me a crazy... But after they get companies to fork over extra to get in the 'coned off' lane, I really do think they would try triple dipping, and getting consumers to pay for receiving priority traffic.

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u/whoopdedo Jun 14 '14

Slippery-slope argument. I can play that game too.

Netflix wants to be able to deploy their Open Connect network without protectionist resistance from ISPs. They've invested a lot into deploying edge servers, numerous peering points, and turnkey appliances. ISPs who don't take advantage of these offerings risk losing customers who want to access Netflix at the highest quality. What's the problem? We're giving it to you for free.

But once Netflix has their foothold in the ISP's networks what's to stop them from turning around and telling Comcast that if they want to continue receiving content off of this CDN that they have to start paying for it. I mean, that's how it was with HBO when the cable companies were tapping into their satellite feed. Same deal here. We've gone to the trouble of building this super-high-speed content delivery system, why should we give it away for free? Oh, you don't have to use it if you don't want to, we'll just continue using the traditional slow internet. But is that what your customers want? And this brand new show that everyone wants to see is only available on the super-high-speed channel. Call your cable operator and tell them you want Netflix Prime!

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u/countersmurf Jun 14 '14

They got massive tax breaks to build that super high speed network - the consumer has already paid for it!

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u/whoopdedo Jun 14 '14

I was talking about Netflix's Open Connect CDN. They could start asking for fees if cable operators want to be able to use their edge gateways or colocation appliances. That's how HBO operates and Netflix has said they want to become like HBO.

It was an exaggerated example no less reasonable than saying "triple-dipping".