Net Neutrality

[Donnie Yen]

The new CEO of Virgin Media, Neil Berkett, has openly stated in an interview that they think net neutrality is "a load of bollocks" and claimed they're already doing deals to deliver some people's content faster than others. They would then put websites and services that don't pay Virgin in the "slow lane", meaning those sites would load slowly and cause most users to give up using them, feeling forced to use whatever Virgin wants to push through their network.

This is not the first time an internet provider infringes upon net neutrality, but it is the first time that an ISP so brutally states that they simply plan to limit internet access to a television-like system in which the access provider completely regulates the content you have access to.

Virgin Media has over 3.5 million customers in the UK and the real danger is that when they start applying this system to their network, all major internet providers around the globe will soon follow the trend. Because this is exactly what major ISP's have been wanting to do for years.

Read more about what Net Neutrality if you dont know what it is, here: Save the Internet : Frequently Asked Questions

Your thoughts?

[Pelafina]

Ideologically, this is wrong.

But financially, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner.

[Chosen Again]

I gotta agree with morningstar. Though not shocking. It is sickening.

[Akans]

Maybe they're going to slow down your internet connection on purpose to stop you from discussing net neutrality concerning them XD.

And yes, Morningstar has a knack of stating the answer shortly yet cohesively.

Ideologically, this is wrong.
But financially, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner.

I agree with you.

Is it possible to sue them for that? If they have net neutrality in their company statement, can't you attack them for infringement of that clause? Or force them to add that in, and shove in a government official while your at it.

But really, if I was the CEO of an ISP company, I'd beef up my own connection XD.

[Chosen Again]

It's all up in the air as far as the legalities go as of right now. Likely they'll decide that it's perfectly legal though. Gov'ment types hate the internet.

[Hollow Bastion]

Senators push FCC on Comcast, net neutrality at hearing


And you can thank Comcast for causing the net neutrality issue to reemerge in the U.S., due to their Sandvine network management system that would reset connections that were seen as Bit-torrent, regardless of the circumstance. Luckily, even the Chairman is unhappy with Comcast.

To say the least, I see the arguments against net neutrality to be very weak. If the system was supposed to right itself, then why did Comcast get away with their blatant blocking of Bit-torrent for so long?

Heck, look at what Comcast stated regarding its policy:
"does not, has not, and will not block any Web sites or online applications, including peer-to-peer services"
Problem, of course, being that they do block much peer-to-peer services, regardless of congestion or use, through the use of Sandvine.

[SunfallE]

I was under the impression that one already paid for the level of access that they get as different packages for Internet service determine what your download capacity will be based on what you are willing to pay. Also...

Originally Posted by Hollow Bastion

And you can thank Comcast for causing the net neutrality issue to reemerge in the U.S., due to their Sandvine network management system that would reset connections that were seen as Bit-torrent, regardless of the circumstance. Luckily, even the Chairman is unhappy with Comcast.

To say the least, I see the arguments against net neutrality to be very weak. If the system was supposed to right itself, then why did Comcast get away with their blatant blocking of Bit-torrent for so long?

Heck, look at what Comcast stated regarding its policy:
"does not, has not, and will not block any Web sites or online applications, including peer-to-peer services"
Problem, of course, being that they do block much peer-to-peer services, regardless of congestion or use, through the use of Sandvine.

Where exactly is this blockage occurring? As a comcast user myself, I have yet to encounter any peer-to-peer blockage with my service. The only issue I've seen people run into is using excessive amounts of bandwidth in a month upon which it was recommended they move to a commercial account instead. I'd be curious to know if people are mistaking restrictions placed for using too much bandwidth as an actual blockage of services like Bit-torrent.

[Raeneth]

I didn't even know Net Neutrality went away ._. it's a pretty serious dilemma for obvious reasons. It's a way for ISP's to rake in moar munniez and screw over the consumers. Having sites like Google load slower than Yahoo limits free speech in my opinion, and if it ever globally passed or became legal (unlikely, but who knows...) the slope is indeed a slippery one.

Originally Posted by SunfallE

The only issue I've seen people run into is using excessive amounts of bandwidth in a month upon which it was recommended they move to a commercial account instead. I'd be curious to know if people are mistaking restrictions placed for using too much bandwidth as an actual blockage of services like Bit-torrent.

agreed. My friend had his download/upload speeds capped because he used so much of it (downloading and uploading large files with Bit Torrent programs), and it's happened to him a few times. Doubtful that it's been blocked really as myself and him both have the same interweb provider, and my speeds haven't really... you know... been restricted or blocked. Maybe in some areas they're getting away with it, but I really haven't heard much about it before now. It wouldn't surprise me in some ways, but it would in others.

[Hollow Bastion]

Originally Posted by SunfallE

Where exactly is this blockage occurring? As a comcast user myself, I have yet to encounter any peer-to-peer blockage with my service. The only issue I've seen people run into is using excessive amounts of bandwidth in a month upon which it was recommended they move to a commercial account instead. I'd be curious to know if people are mistaking restrictions placed for using too much bandwidth as an actual blockage of services like Bit-torrent.

Personally, I don't know exactly. I've just seen people on multiple networking/bandwidth forums complaining about it. And the multiple articles regarding the investigation on Sandvine's usage.

[SunfallE]

Originally Posted by Hollow Bastion

Personally, I don't know exactly. I've just seen people on multiple networking/bandwidth forums complaining about it. And the multiple articles regarding the investigation on Sandvine's usage.

I see. I don't doubt that it's possible, I only know that every time I've checked further into complaints, like one's I've seen at various forums. It has turned out to be a case of the person in question being nailed for excessive bandwidth usage. There are of course other factors that can contribute to an interruption of using peer-to-peer services as well.

I just wonder about the validity of such arguments since I've yet to actually talk to someone who really was blocked. Anyway, I don't doubt that it's an issue, but to the best of my knowledge, it's not one where I live.

[Hollow Bastion]

Comcast is using Sandvine to manage P2P Connections - dslreports.com


May be a better explanation.