To quote Douglas Adams...

Sophia's neck of the woods (pun intended), this is where you should head for any meet-and-greet you'd like to partake in, as well for any discussion that isn't related to role-playing. Have fun, go crazy - but keep your nose clean.
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IamLEAM1983
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To quote Douglas Adams...

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

Don't panic.

The FCC just voted to kill Net Neutrality, which would allow ISPs to gatekeep certain sites at a premium or throttle content access for those below certain paid bandwidth thresholds. That is, if they're left unchecked. The thing is, they won't be. 

For one thing, the FCC saying "We want to undo the last set of rules" doesn't negate the fact that gaining legal access to said laws and actually enacting changes is a process that's likely to take months, if not more than a year. The FCC's proposal has to pass through Congress, and said Congress did just manage to draft a law project that would kill the Republican-led effort to repeal these Obama-era protections. So call your reps, write letters - but avoid online petitions outside of those started by pre-existing consumer advocacy groups. Joe Average's spur-of-the-moment Change.org's anti-repeal petition is what's likely to end up swarming with bots.

Secondly, be aware that no proposal makes it through Congress - or any governmental body, really, even up here in Canada - without some changes. Ajit Pai might have spearheaded an all-or-nothing transmogrification of the way your ISP's billing plans are structured, what's more likely to happen is incremental changes being implemented. Some ISPs will overreach, consumer advocacy groups will pounce, and the offenders will backtrack. It'll scare the others into behaving in a somewhat more "prosumer" manner - especially how reports are coming in showing that some suburban and rural authorities are giving ISPs the finger and more or less pirating their own Internet access points. There's corners of America where you can now access the Web without owing a cent to Comcast, Verizon or T-Mobile.

Finally, be aware that the rest of the world is aware of what's happening with American ISPs. The United Nations is starting to champion the notion that functional Internet access should be considered a basic human right, and any business that impinges on that right would be in some pretty serious crosshairs. Like it or not, you're setting a dangerous precedent - enough so for Netflix to pull a surprisingly pro-consumer move in the creation of Fast.net; a competitor to Speedtest.net that insofar has escaped Comcast's ability to compensate for it. See, Big Telecom quickly realized everyone used Speedtest to check for bottlenecks or odd drops in bitrate, so they tend to loosen all existing throttling measures on the site. The end result is the impression that you're getting the bandwidth you're paying for - when you really aren't.

So in the coming months, if you're ever unsure, hop on by Fast.net and see for yourself.

Also, the proposed "new" structure of access payment plans closely mirrors the way ISPs billed you in the nineties. So if you're envisioning a dystopian future where you'll need to sell a kidney to view cat videos, at least know that it won't become that drastic.
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TennyoCeres84
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Re: To quote Douglas Adams...

Post by TennyoCeres84 »

Thanks, I will keep it up.
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