It means next to nothing. Pre-2015 was fine. This isn’t judgement day like so many think it is. Ultimately it probably won’t mean much for the average person. The potential for some devastating things is there, but in all reality it’s probably going to amount to very little or nothing.

(December 16, 2017, 11:09 am)johnnyverlander It means next to nothing. Pre-2015 was fine. This isn’t judgement day like so many think it is. Ultimately it probably won’t mean much for the average person. The potential for some devastating things is there, but in all reality it’s probably going to amount to very little or nothing.

Never underestimate corporate greed.

(December 16, 2017, 11:09 am)johnnyverlander It means next to nothing. Pre-2015 was fine. This isn’t judgement day like so many think it is. Ultimately it probably won’t mean much for the average person. The potential for some devastating things is there, but in all reality it’s probably going to amount to very little or nothing.

(serious) I would like to know how it won't mean much for the avergae joe? also i'm failing to understand what benefits it has? (if there are any in which case why do it in the first place)

(December 15, 2017, 2:23 am)Akhenaten I hope you've enjoyed your free trial of YouTube. Your ISP has decided to charge you an extra $4.99 each month if you'd like to continue getting it in 1080p resolution. It's part of their FuckYouLOL Premium Package.

All this and more, coming your way!

Then I will go to a different provider. Competition is what makes America great. If AT&T raises its rates too much, I will switch to Spectrum, Comcast, Cox, or Verizon. Companies will have to lower prices or increase the service quality if they want to stay competitive. More options means lower prices and better service!

(December 16, 2017, 4:16 pm)LovePreggies

(December 15, 2017, 2:23 am)Akhenaten I hope you've enjoyed your free trial of YouTube. Your ISP has decided to charge you an extra $4.99 each month if you'd like to continue getting it in 1080p resolution. It's part of their FuckYouLOL Premium Package.

All this and more, coming your way!

Then I will go to a different provider. Competition is what makes America great. If AT&T raises its rates too much, I will switch to Spectrum, Comcast, Cox, or Verizon. Companies will have to lower prices or increase the service quality if they want to stay competitive. More options means lower prices and better service!

i think this only works if more people do it. i dont have have any statistic on how many people move to different providers after say a price increase

(December 16, 2017, 3:16 pm)SweetMilk

(December 16, 2017, 11:09 am)johnnyverlander It means next to nothing. Pre-2015 was fine. This isn’t judgement day like so many think it is. Ultimately it probably won’t mean much for the average person. The potential for some devastating things is there, but in all reality it’s probably going to amount to very little or nothing.

(serious) I would like to know how it won't mean much for the avergae joe? also i'm failing to understand what benefits it has? (if there are any in which case why do it in the first place)

There is literally no way for me, or anyone else to convince someone that ending Net Neutrality was good, or even just not the end of the world. Anything said will fall on deaf ears, or I'll be forced to play an infinate game of whack-a-mole. It's like Antivax people or anti-GMO people.

I could mention investment, competition, innovation, and all I would get is "but ISPs are evil, the world is ending." It's why I don't even try to reason with people; I'm tired of being told I'm a stupid bitch or that I should either kill myself or be raped.

They read an article on TechCrunch or ArsTechnica, and have made up their minds.

(December 16, 2017, 4:16 pm)LovePreggies Then I will go to a different provider.

How fortunate you are to have more than one provider as an option.

(December 16, 2017, 4:16 pm)LovePreggies Then I will go to a different provider. Competition is what makes America great. If AT&T raises its rates too much, I will switch to Spectrum, Comcast, Cox, or Verizon. Companies will have to lower prices or increase the service quality if they want to stay competitive. More options means lower prices and better service!

Competition??! L-O-fucking-L. At least, that’s what the ISPs are doing: laughing their asses off at that statement.

American ISPs are the absolute fucking worst when it comes to competition. Since none of them are obligated to share their backhauls with each other, they build into an area (at exorbitant cost to them) and corner a large segment of the market. This discourages other ISPs from spending an enormous amount of their own capital required to build into an area and fight for a smaller piece of the pie. So instead we have an Internet cold war where they all say “We’ll stay out of your territory in X if you stay out of our territory in Y”. And they all win.

The result? I have precisely two broadband providers available at my home. Some lucky parts of town have three, a leftover from when a smaller cable company was trying to gain a foothold in new areas before they ran out of money for expansion and were swallowed up by a bigger company. Other isolated parts of town may have four, the last of which being Google Fiber whose rollout has been a complete shitshow for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the permitting they’ve had to get to run their fiber. Guess who owns the telephone poles where Google has to run their fiber? AT&T. And Ma Bell has made Google fight tooth and nail for every single pole they’ve strung to.

Many parts of the country would kill to be so lucky as some in my city have it. Most are like me and can choose between only one “phone company” (AT&T, Verizon) and one “cable company” (Spectrum, Comcast, etc.). Believe it or not, 56k dialup is still not uncommon in rural America because nobody wants to build their broadband infrastructure to remote areas with no ROI potential. So people way off the beaten path can choose between dialup, the slightly less shitty satellite, or wireless (where they face data caps, throttling, and spotty coverage).

Now, I’m not arguing that ISPs should be required to share their infrastructure with their competitors, although that would certainly be a very pro-consumer thing to do. But anyone who trots out the competition argument with ISPs is either woefully uninformed or COMPLETELY full of shit, and if you actually have access to AT&T, Spectrum, Comcast, Cox, AND Verizon at your current residence then I will eat my hat. But chances are you don’t, the ISPs in your area know that you don’t, and they’ll continue to bend you over as much as they can. And if you do switch to the other competitor you have access to, they’ll do the same thing until you switch back.

(December 16, 2017, 4:34 pm)SweetMilk

(December 16, 2017, 4:16 pm)LovePreggies

(December 15, 2017, 2:23 am)Akhenaten I hope you've enjoyed your free trial of YouTube. Your ISP has decided to charge you an extra $4.99 each month if you'd like to continue getting it in 1080p resolution. It's part of their FuckYouLOL Premium Package.

All this and more, coming your way!

Then I will go to a different provider. Competition is what makes America great. If AT&T raises its rates too much, I will switch to Spectrum, Comcast, Cox, or Verizon. Companies will have to lower prices or increase the service quality if they want to stay competitive. More options means lower prices and better service!

i think this only works if more people do it. i dont have have any statistic on how many people move to different providers after say a price increase

I tried this once with my old cable company when they wanted to hike my cable TV rates. I threatened to switch to satellite even though it was not physically possible at my apartment at the time. I literally had no other options. They called my bluff and sent a truck out to disconnect me the next morning. Guess who was back on the phone signing back up at the higher rate?

(December 16, 2017, 3:16 pm)SweetMilk (serious) I would like to know how it won't mean much for the avergae joe?

I think it will be similar to boiling a frog. You don’t drop the frog into boiling water or he’ll just jump right out. You put the frog in the water and then gradually increase the temperature so that he doesn’t notice.

ISPs will gradually extend their reach, seeing what new little things they can get away with.

Quote:also i'm failing to understand what benefits it has? (if there are any in which case why do it in the first place)

It has virtually no tangible benefit to the consumer. It does appease some conservative or libertarian ideologues who are conceptually anti-regulation, the real world be damned.

The ISPs are lining up to give the FCC a sloppy beej for this. Comcast couldn’t wait to scrub all mention of their net neutrality pledge from their web site. That should tell you all you need to know.