By Don PanekTelephonyWorld.com Editor
As we celebrate independence day here in the good ol USA, I was pondering the state of Telephony, VoIP and other communication advances, I found myself thinking of the challenges over the years that have faced the communication industry over the years. Today we face another widely debated fight for freedom in what has become known as Network Neutrality.
Network neutrality addresses whether internet service providers should be allowed to exercise their corporate free speech rights in order to allow more favorable and un-hindered access to web content, or whether those same ISPs should be treated more like common carriers with greater restrictions.
The whole issue of Net Neutrality has become quite confusing to say the least, and I am still not sure if I quite get it all myself. The best way I can describe it, is that the major cable and backbone providers want very much to be able to charge as much as possible and in any way possible for the use of it's high bandwidth infrastructure. Basically service providers such as google, iTunes, video services, streaming music, and any other service which may have content to deliver to you at high speeds.
Think of it as a freeway, owned by the big service providers. Up till now, we have been able to basically travel these roads and deliver content freely once we have paid for the access to the highway. Now however, the ISPs and providers such as AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and others are proposing tolls or additional costs for delivering certain high bandwidth content.
Broadband providers have proposed tiered service offerings, which they claim allow them to recoup their investment in the last mile of the Internet, and encourage future network development. Their main claim is that as bandwidth-intensive applications become commonplace, Internet congestion will increase and the management system we have today may no longer be viable, so alternate methods may become necessary. Proponents of tiered pricing and those who oppose a "Net neutrality" include the big communication companies, network equipment makers, Internet engineers, and other business-oriented interest groups. Their main argument is that the Internet is transforming due to fiber to the home, peering applications, VoIP, and IPTV. They claim that current regulations will be damaging to their network growth and investment plans and strategies.
On the flip side, those in favor of neutrality include content providers such as Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, large communication companies, Internet engineers, corporate critics, political bloggers, and many Political Action Committees. They argue that any non net neutral scheme could allow ISP's to discriminate and control which data they prioritize, such as data from their own sponsors or media interests, thereby turning it into something like cable TV.
The debate has moved into the regulatory and legislative arena.
The two proposed versions of "neutrality" legislation to date would prohibit: (1) the "tiering" of broadband through sale of voice- or video-oriented Quality of Service packages; and (2) content- or service-sensitive blocking or censorship on the part of broadband carriers. These bills have been sponsored by Representatives Markey, Sensenbrenner, et. al., and Senators Snowe, Dorgan, and Wyden. Advocates of continuing with the status quo include content providers such as Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and several prominent social-action non-profits, and media critics such as Robert McChesney.
On the other hand, Verizon, Comcast, AT&T and other companies in the telecommunications industry who want to offer "non-neutral" Internet broadband services are calling for the Congress and regulators to take a "hands off" approach. Presumably they do not feel the need for additional enabling legislation or regulation to make such changes. The telecommunications companies have found allies in various groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Black Chamber of Commerce, and the League of United Latin American Citizens.
Some trends affecting the debate are:
The increasing use of Voice over IP (VoIP).
The increasing use of high bandwidth applications, such as online games, and music and video downloading.
Improvements in networking technology, which make providing broadband service cheaper.
The increasing use of wireless home networks, which allow for neighbors to share an Internet connection, thereby reducing revenues for the service providers.
On June 29th, A "network neutrality" amendment to the Senate's telecommunications reform bill evenly divided the 22 members of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee killing the heavily debated measure that needed a majority vote to pass. Potentially bad news for all of us content providers and consumers who have enjoyed free bandwidth,
The next step for a shot at neutrality is when the issue hits the senate floor.
So what is the likely outcome? The way I see it, and based on my experience with technological politics, we'll end up seeing some form of a tiering structure that will affect enterprise who will end up paying more for high speed/bandwidth connectivity.
But on the positive side, a two-tier Internet could reduce overall bandwidth costs if leased line traffic could be switched to lower cost premium Internet connections without loss of quality. It could also make the free Internet perform better for those who don't wish to pay.
What will actually happen is hard to predict. There are still debates to be had and votes to be cast. But I am sure that whenever politics get involved with services and regulations, I end up paying more somewhere for something I have become quite accustomed to having, like my online newscasts, downloading music, hopping around freely and rather quickly to and from any site I choose. Hopefully I won't start hitting tolls when accessing my favorite high speed content sites. Of course, when and if that happens, someone will of course come out with an "easy pass" for the web that automatically debits my credit card as I go back and forth between my favorite services, which will make the whole process fairly painless, and just further deplete my bank account.
Gotta love freedom!
