[opendtv] Re: FCC issues net neutrality rules in face of Congress and carriers
- From: Michael Enright <michael.enright@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:14:35 -0700
Network neutrality is about making sure that carriers like cable
companies and phone companies allow datagrams to flow without regard
to what's in them. For example, if the datagram contains a Skype
packet, net neutrality would mean that AT&T U-Verse would not block it
or impair its transmission relative to how it would be treated if AT&T
didn't know what it was. It would mean that you could keep using
Google as your search engine even if Verizon tried to make a deal with
Yahoo.
Residential services being asymmetrical in bandwidth is a negative,
but it applies to all the things residential users do in the same way.
It can be colored as an anti-little guy thing but it is neutral as to
service or content.
This discussion of asymmetrical bandwidth to the home just distracts
from the pros and cons of the true idea of net neutrality, in a way
that favors the big ISPs that have interests at odds with neutrally
delivering packets.
On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 3:35 PM, Manfredi, Albert E
<albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Tom Barry wrote:
>
>> Does upstream bandwidth cost any more to provide than
>> downstream bandwidth?
>
> Definitely. Within a single ISP's network, there are many more potential
> upstream sources than downstream sources. So if you allow, say 100 Mb/s
> upstream from everyone, and you expect this to occur without a huge
> congestion problem, it is a much bigger problem than just promising 100 Mb/s
> downstream.
>
> Don't forget that these networks, whether they are cable or fiber optic, are
> all passive networks as you get close to individual households. It's not like
> every house is passed with an individual router connecting that house to a
> fully connected mesh. You have a single line, be it coax or fiber optic, that
> gets progressively split off in the fan-out to x number of households. They
> need to keep active electronics away from neighborhoods, as much as possible.
> Even the downstream bandwidth is not guaranteed 100 percent of the time.
>
>> One possibility that comes to mind is that the ISP's
>> are also data providers and are discriminating against
>> possible competition.
>
> Yes, exactly. When those who don't appreciate the cost of providing symmetric
> service assume there is no cost involved, their conclusion is just what you
> proposed. That's why it becomes a net neutrality issue, and that's why the
> ISPs are so POed.
>
> I'm not saying that the ISPs do not ALSO want to be gate keepers, mind you.
> I'm just suggesting that's not the only issue here.
>
> Bert
>
>
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