The Fairy Tale of 'Net Neutrality'
Via NewsFactor Technology News.
Today the technical becomes the political. If VoIP service providers can convince the FCC to mandate net neutrality as a requirement, and some believe that they can, they will neutralize service providers as competition. But the story of net neutrality would just be a fairy tale. Nice story, but not reality.
With broadband service providers in hot pursuit of the "value-add" dollars being vacuumed from their customers by VoIP service providers such as Vonage , it was no surprise to see the battle make its way to the front page of The Wall Street Journal earlier this month.
In short, a regional service provider decided -- apparently without mentioning it to customers -- to block Vonage calls from traversing its network. The FCC came to the rescue and forced the service provider to remove the block. Score one victory for VoIP service providers, but the battle has just begun.
It's what the Israelis would call a "balagan" -- a real mess. It might not be Gaza but the prospects for peaceful coexistence are probably about the same -- at least in the short term. VoIP service providers naturally want to keep the status quo and are calling for the industry to adopt a stance of "net neutrality," which tells service providers to keep hands off third-party traffic.
posted by Fergie @ 9/06/2005 09:14:00 AM
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