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Comment by extheat | Hacker News Reader

My views on this have changed over time. More and more it seems like policy people encroaching on technical decisions without fully understanding the rationale behind them. Is there a good reason to segment different types of content, such as for optimal network performance? Ultimately all wireless communications have to work within the bounds of physics no matter what the made up human laws say. If there's a limited amount of bandwidth you have to work with, does it make sense to waste all the bandwidth on streaming HD videos and block off all the other traffic in the name of "neutrality"?

I would understand if there's some profit motive behind this, but I'm not seeing it.

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ALL discussions of Net Neutrality allow providers to prioritize traffic for capacity management purposes. This so well known by now that I have to wonder if this comment is part of an astroturf campaign (or maybe you’ve been influenced by one).

I'm not sure how much people actually read the link, but I'm talking about this "problem point" specifically relating to network congestion:

> However, there’s a huge problem: the proposed rules make it possible for mobile ISPs to start picking applications and putting them in a fast lane - where they’ll perform better generally and much better if the network gets congested.

> T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon are all testing ways to create these 5G fast lanes for apps such as video conferencing, games, and video where the ISP chooses and controls what gets boosted. They use a technical feature in 5G called network slicing, where part of their radio spectrum gets used as a special lane for the chosen app or apps, separated from the usual internet traffic.

> The FCC’s draft order opens the door to these fast lanes, so long as the app provider isn’t charged for them.

>This so well known by now that I have to wonder if this comment is part of an astroturf campaign (or maybe you’ve been influenced by one).

"Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents, and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data. "

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With T-Mobile, I get free MLB and Netflix - both are things I normally pay for.

I wonder if net neutrality becomes law, will they have to stop paying for me to access those services? If so, that would be a bummer.

If it’s pricing meant to protect limited bandwidth and not a profit motive, I think this regulation has to make it so that neither content providers nor consumers are charged differently. The proposed regulation lets the carriers charge consumers (you and I) different prices for different packages that treat traffic differently.

The big difference is "type of content" vs. "brand of content".

If a network theoretically prioritized phone calls, email and registered messaging platforms, or deprioritized bulk file-sharing during congested periods, that would be reasonable.

What I see here is ISPs trying to rent-seek and get big players like Netflix or big game companies to pay for being on the premium tier, while charging customers for the privilege as well.

And from a privacy perspective, ISPs shouldn't know what kind of traffic is on its network anyway. I'm on VPN as much as possible these days.

>If a network theoretically prioritized phone calls

This already exists and is an example of a good use of priority. Cellular networks offer Voice over LTE and this is inherently prioritized over all other network traffic. This is done specifically for E911 but also implements special settings so calls can continue to go through even when coverage is very poor (and where VoIP apps would start to fail).

We already know how technically successful those implementations will look in practice; Look at the "messaging only" free tiers in airline ISPs which are only able to distinguish permissible traffic from a selected few partners (mainly Apple/Meta) and likely requires cooperation in the form of special APIs and agreements between the companies.

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