net neutrality debate can be compared to 800 numbers on the PSTN.
> There, companies pay a telecommunications carrier to give preferred
> treatment to calls to them over calls to others, in terms of
> cost. Could a similar idea be adopted by broadbnad providers? You
I doubt "8nn" calls get any priority over any other call on the PSTN.
8nn is merely a different billing arrangement where the entity receiving the call pays for it and gets a discounted "bulk" rate.
What I see with this network neutrality debate is AT&T and Verizon getting paid by the originator for every packet they carry on their network from outside networks.
Take the current case of Google ... Google uses Level 3 to connect to the rest of the Internet. Level 3 likely has peering arrangements in place with AT&T and UUNET (now owned by Verizon) where essentially "you carry my traffic I carry yours" ... however if an imbalance occurs AT&T and others want (or has) the right to charge "transit" fees.
In the recent past Level 3 cut off Cogent because of this imbalance.
I see a grave risk that if net neutrality goes away so does peering, which would likely partition the Internet into Verizon, AT&T, Level 3 and SAVVIS "internets" with limited connectivity with each other ... or an eventual re-creation of the AT&T quasi-monopoly only ths time as an UNREGULATED monopoly.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Herb Oxley From: address IS Valid.