Although the FCC's new net neutrality rules impose strict regulations on wired broadband Internet service providers (ISPs), such as cable companies, the regulations put on mobile ISPs are much less strict. For example, all ISPs will be prohibited from blocking access to certain websites and online services, but mobile carriers will be allowed to charge different rates for preferential access to individual services such Facebook, Skype, and YouTube.
The net neutrality rules will be advantageous for the consumer in general, because they will prevent ISPs from blocking users' access to competitors, but there are loopholes for wireless carriers in the rules that will allow them to charge extra for access various services. If you are one of millions of consumers in the United States who regularly accesses the Internet through a mobile carrier, these new rules that were intended to maintain an open Internet may soon have an effect on you.
Advantage: Competitors' Services Will Not Be Blocked
One aspect of the FCC's net neutrality bill that almost everyone agrees on is its prevention of ISPs blocking access to individual websites and services. Without this rule, your Internet service provider could potentially block you from accessing a competitor's website. Let's take Hulu, the popular video streaming site, as an example: the majority owner of Hulu with 32% is NBC Universal; Comcast, one of the nation's cable and Internet giants, is in the process of purchasing part of NBC Universal from GE.
Because Comcast could become the parent company of Hulu, Comcast could choose to give preferential treatment to Comcast Internet subscribers trying to access Hulu, but block those trying to access other video streaming services such as Netflix. Without the net neutrality rules, scenarios like this could take place within every ISP; Internet providers could essentially force their subscribers to use the ISP's own services, while preventing access to competing services and websites.
The same thing could happen within mobile carriers and affect companies like Line2 and Skype. Both Line2 and Skype provide alternatives to AT&T's high prices for service on the iPhone, and give iPhone users a way to communicate with their friends and families without having to use up their costly monthly minutes. They are both VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services, which means that they use Wi-Fi and 3G connections to send voice data to others. Without the net neutrality rules, AT&T could decide to block access to Skype over the carrier's network and force you to use your minutes whenever a Wi-Fi connection is not available.
Disadvantage: Wireless ISPs are Permitted to Throttle Traffic
The key rule of the FCC's net neutrality rules that is currently contested by many, especially open Internet advocates, is one that will allow mobile Internet providers to throttle access to certain services and pay tiered rates for access to some. This means that your mobile carrier could charge you a separate, tiered rate to access websites like Facebook, Skype, and YouTube, in addition to what you are already paying.
In fact, certain cell phone carriers are currently talking openly about doing just that. Two companies that list Verizon and AT&T as clients recently put on a webinar that describes how they can monitor traffic across the carriers' networks to allow them to charge for individual services. According to a slide from the webinar, carriers could charge prices like $0.02 per megabyte for access to Facebook, $3 for monthly access to Skype, or $0.50 monthly access to YouTube. Remember, those prices are in addition to the $30 or $40 a month you are paying for mobile Internet access already.
Although we still have yet to see how these rules will have an effect on the way that we access to Internet, news focusing on these rules in the coming months should be interesting. Some wireless carriers are in favor of the rules, while others, such as Verizon Wireless, and making veiled threats to sue everyone. If you are one of the millions who uses a cell phone to access the Internet on a daily basis, pay close attention because the FCC's new rules may have a profound effect on how you access the Internet and what you pay on your cell phone bill every month.
Nicholas Anderegg - Nick Anderegg is an experienced freelance writer who has done everything from working as a contributing writer for several online ...
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