Will Net Neutrality Really Affect Consumers? A Point By Point Guide
There’s been a lot of buzz about net neutrality for years, but many consumers are still unsure of exactly how it will affect them. The complex jargon can be frustrating and confusing, but it really boils down to the following points.
1 – Right Now Certain Companies Are Prioritizing Certain Websites
Currently, some companies give priority to certain websites. For example, an internet provider that’s owned by the same parent company that owns a video sharing site may throttle speeds so that their customers will experience a slower connection when they attempt to connect to a competing file sharing site. Or perhaps an internet provider would make it difficult for consumers to reach sites that stream large amounts of data, like TV streaming or movie downloading sites.
2 – The Response From Consumers to These Priorities
People who are affected by these changes find it frustrating that the provider they choose or the search engine they’re using are deciding for them which sites they can visit. They want net neutrality to prevent companies from prioritizing legal sites over one another. And that is a key point – legal sites. Most people are not asking telecommunication companies to stop blocking illegal content.
The goal is to have an open and free web. There is also concern that with more and more telecommunications companies consolidating to form just a few big companies, that smaller companies are unable to compete if their sites are going to be throttled as a result of the priorities of another provider. Consumers simply want to be able to access the sites they wish to access.
3 – The Defense of Telecommunications Companies
Of course, telecommunications aren’t doing this just for fun, and in fact that they do make a few good points in their own defense. First of all, they’ve spent billions of dollars to build the framework for broadband in the United States. They believe that they should be able to capitalize on that without helping other companies to jump in now and make money from their infrastructure.
They also say that it’s necessary to have control over the ‘pipeline’ in order to ensure there’s room for future innovations in the internet. They believe that if they are not properly compensated for the time and capital they’ve put into building the infrastructure, then there won’t be future incentive to upgrade the internet.
4 – The Break Down – How It Could Affect You in the Future
There are a few major issues that people are concerned will affect consumers if net neutrality isn’t implemented:
- Artificial outages: There is concern that if too much power is in the hands of too few, that companies will withhold resources to create artificial outages. This would allow them to raise prices on consumers and be able to claim it was necessary.
- Removing competition: Of course, one of the main reasons that telecommunication companies don’t want net neutrality is because they do want to be able to control the playing field and reduce competition – which is exactly what consumers are afraid of.
- Fewer options: When competition is removed two things happen: prices go up and choices go down. Some people are more concerned about the rise in prices, but others are concerned that they’ll be left with few choices.
It’ll be interesting to see what the telecommunication companies decide to do voluntarily, what they’ll be required to do, and what will stand up in court. At the moment, several cases have been heard and others are pending as telecommunication companies take on the FCC to protect their right to control the internet.
Citations:
Author Tracy Sharp writes on a variety of topics, but particularly enjoys focusing on technology. She recommends www.highspeed-internet-providers.com as a helpful resource.
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