The debate of the “neutrality” of the internet has been going on almost since the widespread use of the personal computer. Once the companies of Apple and Microsoft made internet access feasible and affordable to the average American, average Americans began to question the nature of their internet bill. Internet providers in the forms of Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and AT&T held different prices for different amounts of data they would allow. Now what does this mean?
This means that if you wanted to use the internet for emailing, chatting from peer-to-peer groups (i.e social media) and web browsing, it would cost X amount. If you wanted to tack on online gaming and video streaming that would cost X amount more. However, the internet is not water. It does not cost the provider a dime more to give you video streaming as composed to emailing. Yet companies could charge you more for the more data.
This is where net neutrality comes in. Net neutrality states that companies should charge a flat fee for everything and the costs only fluctuate for the speed in which a customer may wish to browse the web, game and so on. Thus you cannot be barred from Skyping simply because you haven’t paid for that service yet. However, your Skyping may be slower if you paid for a certain internet speed.
While this may make sense, the debate has caused a massive uproar, specifically in silicon valley. Consumers wish for net neutrality because it means cheaper rates and access to more of the internet’s potential. Providers oppose net neutrality because they argue if everyone has access to everything, even at basic speeds, companies will have no incentive to create better, faster speeds because their consumer base would already be satisfied.
The argument raged on until the U.S Government ruled that the internet is a “telecommunications” utility, just like electricity or phone lines. This means that private companies cannot withhold services. These companies must instead provide all services with only the speed, not the volume, of these services open to price fluctuations.
This is where we are now. Skype is available to everyone, as well as gaming, social media, and the like. Even though most SVC students had access to these things before. Now access is guaranteed.