I consider myself to be somewhat middle ground on the issue. For the most part I find that the argument comes down to one one side claiming that without "net neutrality" the Internet will become like cable (IE - you only get access to the channels/websites that you specifically pay for or are in your specific package), while the other side argues that not allowing any packet prioritizing will keep us from newer/better technologies that require substantial stable bandwidth (voip beyond).
<br><br>Sadly, while I don't think regulation often works well. In my experience going it without regulation ends up much worse. There are already documented cases of the bigger ISPs and backbones outright blocking traffic that competes with something they offer. IE - you can't use Vonage on some AT&T connections, because AT&T offers their own voip service. Nevermind that vonage is just over $20, while AT&T's service is nearly $30... that's obviously because it's "better".
<br><br>This is always how it ends up when things are left to "the market". The biggest businesses take over and eliminate the competition and then charge monopoly prices. It's the natural end result of capitalism, and it's what government is SUPPOSED to be protecting us from. (The reality of what often happens is for another discussion/debate)
<br><br>However, QoS is a reality and a necessity. no company/government can afford to run all new cabling to cover the entire US every 5 years. There's a reason the average consumer internet connection speed is much faster in England than it is here. They're not surging ahead of us in tech. They simply have less land mass and more concentrated populations. So we need different answers and QoS is one of them.
<br><br>Now for the hard sell.<br><br>The real answer is to regulate it to the extent that "types" of service can be prioritized, but not one provider over another. So you want to prioritize voip? Fine. But both your packets and your competitors packets have to be given the same priority. Which would be a greater priority than let's say smtp or http.
<br><br>Saying that is one thing. Writing laws/regulations to do it, without obvious loopholes, AND without limiting innovation and new technologies is quite another.<br><br>-Brandon<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">
On 7/27/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Nathan Stien</b> <<a href="mailto:nathanism@gmail.com">nathanism@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Many of you may be interested in this article:<br><br><a href="http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/deep-packet-inspection-meets-net-neutrality.ars">http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/deep-packet-inspection-meets-net-neutrality.ars
</a><br><br>I'd be curious to hear some cialugger opinions on Net Neutrality. Is<br>there even a consensus on precisely what the term means? I read<br>conflicting versions of the idea all the time. Both proponents and
<br>the opposition claim that their position is about "saving the<br>internet". Both sides argue that the other would harm innovation.<br>Anyone here feel strongly about this either way? I would be<br>fascinated to hear your perspectives.
<br><br>I know some people here work at or run ISPs, and I'd be extra curious<br>to hear their opinions. Is this something we need to legislate, or<br>could the market take care of it? (Though in most towns there's not
<br>much of a real market...) Do you ISPers long for the ability to shape<br>traffic and provide tiered service levels? What about that "pay us<br>$10/month and we'll uncripple your VoIP" thing from the article?
<br><br>I would imagine most people here, ISPer and non-ISPer alike, would<br>prefer that things like CALEA didn't exist. Anyone have pro-CALEA<br>feelings or arguments? (I myself would prefer complete deregulation<br>
of strong crypto and more widespread usage of it among everyday people<br>for emails, cell phones, etc...)<br><br>--<br>Nathan P. Stien<br>Consulting Engineer / Software Developer<br>Embedded Systems Electronics and Software
<br><a href="http://linkedin.com/in/nathanstien">http://linkedin.com/in/nathanstien</a><br>Mobile: 309.241.2581<br>_______________________________________________<br>Cialug mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Cialug@cialug.org">
Cialug@cialug.org</a><br><a href="http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug">http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug</a><br></blockquote></div><br>