US Net Neutrality rules officially repealed

[Cheetah]

You asked before.

Now we will all find out.

The Net Neutrality Repeal Is Official. Here’s How That Could Affect You.


It’s official. The Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of net neutrality rules, which had required internet service providers to offer equal access to all web content, took effect on Monday.

The rules, enacted by the administration of President Barack Obama in 2015, prohibited internet providers from charging more for certain content or from giving preferential treatment to certain websites.

After the commission voted to repeal the rules in December, it faced a public outcry, legal challenges from state attorneys general and public interest groups, and a push by Democratic lawmakers to overturn the decision. The opponents argued that the repeal would open the door for service providers to censor content online or charge additional fees for better service — something that could hurt small companies — and several states have taken steps to impose the rules on a local level.

Still, the repeal was a big win for Ajit Pai, the F.C.C.’s chairman, who has long opposed the regulations, saying they impeded innovation. He once said they were based on “hypothetical harms and hysterical prophecies of doom.”

Look how happy Pai is. This can only be a good thing.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Internet service is about to get even worse in rural areas that don't have community-owned ISPs.

 

[civvver]

Honestly I'm more worried about the att time warner deal. Hopefully it gets shut down.

Time warner owns warnder bros, tnt, tbs, hbo. If they partner with att I'm sure they won't drop those channels from cable lineups, or even charge more for them, but I wouldn't put it past them to throttle hbo content from non att internet subs. I read an argument that the att time warner deal is a vertical merger so they usually allow those, meaning att is like a utility time warner uses to deliver it's content and they aren't direct competitors. But to me that seems even more of a dangerous monopoly cus they won't have to compete. It's like if apple offered cell service and you could only use an iphone on apples network. That would suck for consumers.

 

[Lexicus]

I live in an area in which Comcast has an actual broadband internet monopoly.

This leads to service just as good as you would expect.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Honestly I'm more worried about the att time warner deal. Hopefully it gets shut down.

Time warner owns warnder bros, tnt, tbs, hbo. If they partner with att I'm sure they won't drop those channels from cable lineups, or even charge more for them, but I wouldn't put it past them to throttle hbo content from non att internet subs. I read an argument that the att time warner deal is a vertical merger so they usually allow those, meaning att is like a utility time warner uses to deliver it's content and they aren't direct competitors. But to me that seems even more of a dangerous monopoly cus they won't have to compete. It's like if apple offered cell service and you could only use an iphone on apples network. That would suck for consumers.

The merger was approved.

 

[Commodore]

I live in an area in which Comcast has an actual broadband internet monopoly.

My condolences. This is like the internet version of announcing you have some terminal illness.

 

[civvver]

This is exactly how I feel about the subject.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/12/netflix-and-alphabet-will-need-to-become-isps-fast/

But the second major story was the final (final final) repeal of the FCC’s net neutrality rules yesterday that will allow telecom companies like AT&T to prioritize their own content over that of competitors. In the past, AT&T didn’t have all that much content, but the addition of Time Warner now gives them a library encompassing Warner Bros. to TBS, TNT, HBO and CNN. Suddenly, that control over prioritization just got a lot more powerful and profitable.

The combination of these two stories is spooking every video on demand service, from YouTube to Netflix . If Comcast bids and is successful in buying 21st Century Fox, then connectivity in the United States will be made up of a handful of gigantic content library ISPs, and a few software players that will have to pay a premium to deliver their content to their own subscribers. While companies like Netflix and Alphabet have negotiated with the ISPs for years, the combination of these two news stories puts them in a significantly weaker negotiating position going forward.

So basically att/directtv can throttle hbo if you are on another isp. And then say hey switch to us! Lightning fast hbo! And they can throttle netflix until netflix pays them a bunch of money, but customers who may have once dropped att/comcast en masse may not be as inclined to do so because now they can still watch hbo, tnt, tbs, warner bros etc.

It basically sucks for everyone. I don't see any benefit to consumers. Essentially isps get a stronger hold on customers and charging content producers to not throttle their stuff.

You see all those ads for hulu now or live or whatever and youtube now and apple tv? Good luck getting any of those with att internet now. They can say use directv or nothing if they really want to and it's all legal.

 

[Broken_Erika]

How long until the FTC starts talking about how monopolies are a good thing?

 

[rah]

I have never had a problem with comcast customer support. I've had them in for service calls that they could have charged me for since the problems were internal wiring issues, but they've always been very cooperative writing it up as their fault so I haven't been charged. They have always shown up within 30 minutes of when they said, and they have the fastest internet service in our area. I haven't tested their tech support much since I have considerable knowledge in that area. My only grip is the price but their latest mobile offer is dirt cheap if you don't use a lot of data. I'd rate them better than any other provider I've ever had. But yeah, the competition is falling by the wayside.

 

[Lexicus]

They have always shown up within 30 minutes of when they said,

Funny, when my roommate called them to replace our internet connection because our other roommate was moving out, they didn't show up when scheduled, didn't bother to call us, and my roommate had to call again and schedule an entirely new visit (which, I suppose it should be noted, duly occurred).

I don't have a problem with Comcast's internet when it's working normally. The problem is that it so often seems throttled, with my browser's speed test showing a 2-3 mbps download speed when we were supposedly paying for 100mbps.

 

[rah]

We have the gig service and I have only once experienced it lower than 100mbps and that was during a winter storm.
All our wiring is below ground. Cable service has been more reliable than any other service I've had, but in all fairness I've been with then a long time and it's not the dark ages like it used to be in cable service. Maybe I've just been one of the lucky ones, but I've always been impressed. (and I've run call centers)

 

[Lexicus]

As I said, Comcast has a broadband internet monopoly in my area. I'm guessing this influences the outcomes. The only choice I have if I decide I don't want Comcast anymore is to get DSL internet from Verizon.

 

[rah]

AT&T is awful. We also have other small time providers but yeah, as far as I'm concerned they have a monopoly here.
And I like to remind them that the cost of acquisition is much higher than the cost of retention.
And I do live in an upscale neighborhood, so maybe that has something to do with it but call centers probably wouldn't recognize that.

 

[civvver]

My comcast has also been good and I would love to try their mobile but for some reason they won't take my wifes iphone. But the price is exorbitant I feel, simply because there is little competition. Those regional network fees and all these other unregulated fees keeping jump $2-4 every couple months. My cable + internet bill jumped 20% last year.

 

[rah]

I took the intro offer and got a free phone and it's only 15 a month for a gig, 15 more per gig capped at 45. My phone is off most of the time so I've never come close to a gig so it's a great price for me.

 

[civvver]

I didn't see a free phone offer. Either way it's doubtful my wife would go for it. My phone is through work, she has an iphone 7 on att and she is extremely loyal to the brand for cell service, convinced tmobile and verizon aren't as good. She's right about sprint not being as good, but the others are fine in our area.

What kind of fees do they charge? Like all the regulatory stuff. I think my wife's plan is only ~50 but we pay around 60 a month all said and done for 4gb of data.

 

[rah]

close to no fees, it's a straight per gig cost. I think there's a federal charge or something so it works out to 18 bucks a month. The nice thing is it auto connects to xfinity hot spots so I've gone months without using any data at all. (I don't do much streaming to my phone, too small)

My wife and daughter are also iphone junkies so they kept our old expensive service.
I took the intro offer at the very beginning (last year) which seems to be more generous then the current one.

 

[civvver]

xfinity hot spots suck for streaming vod though, they are too slow. They're fine for casual browsing. Cus my regular phone connects to them since I have logged into xfinity on it before and I turn wifi off to get away from them.

 

[rah]

as I said, I really don't stream. If I want to watch something I download it to a tablet when I'm at home. Yeah, their hot spots aren't fast, but I'm old so I don't live on my phone like the younger generation.

 

[rah]

And just reported, Comcast has outbid Disney's offer for FOX.