“They should be very HAPPY. It gives the internet FREEDOM.”
It gives providers freedom.
I can see both sides to this. The potential for a provider charging you based on what “tier” of web access you want, (not speed, but actual sites you visit), is not appealing.
I’ve been around the tech culture for a long time. So long that it won’t be long before I hang up my patch cables. I think I still know the pulse of the tech community. They hate this, and there will be real consequences to it.
“I can see both sides to this. The potential for a provider charging you based on what “tier” of web access you want, (not speed, but actual sites you visit), is not appealing.”
You don’t want the opportunity to buy video from a content provider that pays extra so that your video can arrive pixel free? Or buy your telephone service over your existing broadband with 911 location services AND free of garble?
Do you want to force the people who invested trillions of dollars in fiber and high-speed switching a routing relegated to 8 cents on the dollar profit margin, while content providers make 100%, regulation free?
Do you know what you want from internet services?
So can I, and living where I choose to (a rural part of upstate NY), I have one, count 'em, ONE useful Internet Service Provider available (Frontier Communications). I am completely at their mercy, because the other so-called alternatives are unacceptably slow (dial-up) or effectively half-duplex (satellite). I do considerable remote work for my employer and the minimum I need is what I currently have over bonded DSL: 25Mbps down, 1Mbps up, with minimal delay. I don't upload that much material remotely, but I have to do remote video conferencing, etc.
I'll be interested to see what the variable rates become, for the various domains I have to work with. Might not be pretty.
OTOH, I abhor government regulations of businesses whose profit interest coincides with useful innovation and technological development. So if the loss of NN means ultimately I'll have more bandwidth, great. But if it means I can't work remotely, I'm totally screwed.