Net Neutrality

I was at work today when I took a break to check out Yahoo!

Unfortunately, my company has a block on Yahoo! and I was not able to visit the site. It was determined by someone higher than me that Yahoo does not benefit the company and has the ability to place workers off task.

What my company couldn't stop me from doing (they have not outlawed it yet) is going on my phone and checking the internet there. On the front page of Yahoo! was the vote on net neutrality. The powers that be voted to regulate our internet. Don't be alarmed.....YET!

What today's vote means is that internet companies such as Comcast and other internet primary service providers are now classified as data companies. This move will put internet providers of all types into one category. So as much as Verizon is an internet provider, Comcast is now a cell phone provider (in theory).

How this works: Say Verizon wants to have internet rights to places in remote Montana. Instead of just putting towers on main roads, they now have to attempt to serve area's which are much harder to reach. Like Verizon, Comcast must also offer it's services in places that would normally be harder to get to. The problem is that if Comcast and Verizon were to merge their internet products, they would still be classified as data and could not escape what the government is controlling.

Essentially, we just took a step away from the constitution and towards socialism.


While this isn't such a big deal right now, the immediate future spells competition for those interested in getting into new markets. For instance, Comcast cannot shutter the speeds it offers in Montana simply because it is more expensive to serve this market over a place like Seattle. Comcast must make reasonable efforts to offer all residents of Montana the same service package they would offer any metro area. The easy solution to this is to slow down internet speeds everywhere. Not so fast, Comcast cannot do that either. Data providers must now offer everyone the opportunity to the same internet speeds.


That's all well and good, for those using home internet. However our internet usage is fast approaching a high mobile market. So for Verizon, they cannot shutter your speeds just because the network is slow. So guess what? The unintended consequence: Comcast raises prices to keep all equipment at the same service range while Verizon raises prices to allow for data to be passed easily through their network.

The first question is: Who falls first? I believe home based internet will fall first. Comcast cannot easily reach houses like Verizon can with a phone. One cable line equals one house. One cell phone tower equals many users.

But the real issue is not that our prices will rise. The issue is that the government put it's hand in a place we thought was free from government. Look at any other bill in congress where something started out as small regulation. It always ends up with our government running the whole system, and eventually making it worse.

Although this isn't accurate, I wouldn't be surprised to see the internet inaccessible on federal holidays in the near future.