There have been some recent rumblings in the fixed broadband space (see link to article below). For example, cable companies are no longer held to the same laws as DSL providers. Also, there has been at least one case, that was overruled, of a DSL provider blocking Skype calls.
Two things (of many) have got the broadband service providers worried: VoIP and bandwdth hogs. With VoIP, many service providers are thinking like our dear wireless carriers – it’s a service in my pipes and I should be able to charge for it. With the bandwidth hogs, it’s not much different, except it can hamstring companies like Google and Yahoo whose users and services make up a huge chunk of Web traffic. And it will only get worse with video and music consumption being more mainstream (and billable!).
Why is this of any import to our ‘little’ mobile world? Well, the rulings that might go against broadband providers might spill over to the data services of operators. For example, the US House Commerce Committee is thinking of passing a ruling on Net Neutrality, where, as I understand it, everyone has equal access to broadband connections, no preferential treatment, no negative restrictions, no blocking of ports or IP addresses only because of a market protectionism.
Well, a voice call is still a circuit-switched call and is regulated as that. But, mobile data services are part of the Net, so might those also fall under the Net Neutrality? Might that mean that if oprators allow access outside their systems and onto the open Net, they need to allow full access instead of the current, surreptitious (or threatened) port and IP blocking?
On the flip side, if the service providers get their way and can charge and extra fee for bandwidth hogs like Google, how will that impact further growth for mobile services?
Read the article and letme know what you think. It’s pretty good.
Link: At Stake: The Net as We Know It.
Google et al fear broadband carriers will tie up traffic with new tolls and controls. Ultimately, it could mean a world of Internet haves and have-nots
And once again, it’s the competition that keeps those cable operators and phone companies from doing stupid things. In Germany we have a long history of “non-flatrate” DSL service and paying by the Gigabyte. Lately however, there is so much competition that flatrate DSL has become the norm rather than the exception. Some operators also complain that some users are consuming far beyond average and even try to get rid of them despite their flatrate offer… However, there are others which even advertise like “come to us if others want to get rid of you, we have no limitations on our flatrate”. Few carriers throttle traffic for file sharing, none dare to prevent VoIP. But the German tech media reports regularly on those who throttle traffic and they don’t stand a chance compared to the companies that don’t. Strange to see the U.S. going in the other direction at the moment.