Posted on 12/14/2017 10:36:00 AM PST by ColdOne
The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to repeal net neutrality rules, over the objection of Democrats in Congress, Internet activists and online companies.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, and Commissioner Brendan Carr, all Republicans, supported the proposed rollback of the Obama-era rules. Democratic Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel opposed the change.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
So Comcast is limited by FCC rule to 8% margin on their broadband services and has to sell those services to Cox at cost?
I'm not sure you're using 'precisely' correctly.
But with Comcast as the carrier, I was forced to get their basic cable TV package, granted it is only about 10 channels but I had no choice – want Comcast internet? - you have to at least get their basic cable offering.
Not in my neck of the woods. I have Comcast internet without cable TV.
Your issue is with your local government that allows that type of deal.
“So Comcast is limited by FCC rule to 8% margin on their broadband services and has to sell those services to Cox at cost?”
While not fully mature, the intent of NN is to get there. That’s why they are classifying ISPs as common carriers.
And that is precisely the model for you own local telephone carrier. They cannot limit access by any other carrier to their infrastructure (the local loop and local exchange) AND are limited by regulation to an 8% return.
“They’ll get over it.
They have insufficient attention span to hold a grudge for more than a couple of weeks.”
My sons work in tech, one is 34 and leans left of center. The other is 25 and leans right of center. Both have been watching this closely for months now. Both are very agitated by the prospects. Neither will vote for Trump after this. Their coworkers, in general, share their angst, and say they will vote against Trump.
I don’t think you and I can completely grasp how important this is to them. I know I can’t. To me, hey, it’s just the internet.
I’ve been reading and hearing that ‘net neutrality’ will cause internet companies to raise prices, lower speeds, and drastically restrict what people have access to, akin to having social media blocked at an office. The internet companies would also partition access to social media and entertainment websites much like cable companies do with their packages.
Just what *is* net neutrality? Can someone on here break it down for the legalese illiterate?
No, the ISPs have always had the ability to charge you more for higher usage - the analog to the difference between a local and international call - and nn didn't change that.
What they want to do is charge you more depending on the content of the call, not the distance or duration.
Not if the only high speed internet provider in my area is Comcast and local governments award who gets that franchise. Sure Comcast came in and invested the infrastructure and I don’t disagree that they own it and should be compensated. But in most municipalities another cable company can’t just come in and lay cable and offer their services at a more competitive price. What other business is going to come in and drop it to $100 if Comcast has not only the monopoly of providing the connection, but increasingly a monopoly on the content as well?
That’s not true- they gave you basic cable with the internet because the package was CHEAPER with it. With just internet the price is 10-15 bucks a month higher. I used to work for Comcast.
I’ll take my chances with the cable company over any obama regulation. There will be political hell to pay if they jack the rates/play favorites and they know it.
Perhaps but I wasn't allowed the choice you evidently have. Again what I have is very basic cable, only local channels and stupid stuff like HSN, but again, and I argued with them, I had to get the basic package in order to get their internet.
“If you’re a Lying Leftist, you lie. it’s what you do. “
Funny that’s part of the logo of a big insurance outfit. And yes what does the GExxx stand for in that name. GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES ...
Insurance written by liars for liars, perfect fit.
Sounds like that is the deal Comcast made with your local government. Your beef is with your city/county for that sweetheart deal.
The FCC admitted that the common carrier framework wasn't the ideal one for regulating ISPs, but they felt it was the only viable one they had absent new legislation. They also explicitly said they wouldn't apply the provisions you're railing about to the internet.
I agree there's a theoretical risk that they could abuse the power some day but they've made no moves to regulate price at all, hysterical false claims to the contrary aside.
And tell me where you can live where this isn’t the case. I’ve lived in several Maryland counties and in 2 different PA counties since 2010 and there has only ever been one choice of cable provider. It’s not like I’ve ever had a choice to contract with one of several other cable companies (TWC or Charter Communications), in fact everywhere I’ve ever lived, going all the back to the early 80’s, it’s only been Comcast.
I watched a couple of videoed interviews FCC Chairman Ajit Pai did, one on what Network Neutrality was (or was SUPPOSED to be) and the other videoed interview was on why it was bad.
I found him well spoken, and compelling. What he said resonated fully with me.
No one knows what will happen for sure, but the nn rules simply said the ISPs have to treat all of the traffic on the internet basically the same (there are provisions that allow them to discriminate to some extent for performance management, but leave that aside for now).
The ISPs can and always could charge you more for using more bandwidth. For instance, they can charge you a lot more for streaming a movie than for viewing FR web pages because you're consuming more bandwidth. NN didn't change that.
What some of the ISPs want to do, and nn prevented, is charge you more for streaming a movie from Netflix than for streaming the same movie from their own PPV service.
Or, more likely, slowing down the Netflix movie but not theirs.
The nn rules basically say it's up to the user to decide what content he wants to call up on the internet provided he's willing to pay for the bandwidth, and the ISP can't charge differently for the same content from different providers.
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