ISPs are greedy and I hope they get their hat handed to them.

Companies like AT&T and Comcast and Verizon get paid to deliver internet content by their customers.  If the customers want high speed internet, they pay more money for the privilege.

Companies like Netflix pay to host their web site and deliver content.  I pay to do the same for my website.

Now at least one Internet Service Provider (ISP) is slowing down Netflix downloads and, at the same time, ISPs want Netflix to pay the ISPs to deliver content to users that have already paid the cost for content delivery.  Greed.  Pure and simple.

What got me started on this was this article here.

Quote :

AT&T pulled in a staggering $128.8 billion in revenue in 2013. The company’s operating income for the full year totaled more than $30 billion. According to the company’s mobile boss, however, the extra capacity needed to deliver popular services over the Internet to its customers is an expense AT&T should not have to bear.

While speaking at the Rutberg Global Summit in Atlanta, Georgia earlier this week, AT&T Mobility chief Ralph de la Vega suggested that picking up the tab for the additional cost of streaming Netflix videos to AT&T subscribers is not an option. The only two viable options, it seems, are for “everyone” to pay or for Netflix to pay.

“We have to provide additional capacity and so the only question is who should pay for that addition,” de la Vega said, according to GigaOm. “Should everyone pay for it or should Netflix?”

When asked if charging heavy Internet users more than other users was a viable option, the executive was quick to make it clear that AT&T does not intend to implement that model as a solution for the capacity consumed by services like Netflix.

“The pricing models for the customer should be separate from the backbone,” de la Vega said.

The news follows a recent deal struck by Netflix and Comcast that will see the subscription video service provider pay additional fees to Comcast for speedier service.

 

I am in favor of "Net Neutrality" as defined by the FCC.  Here is an article that describes net neutrality pretty well.  It is worth a read.

Essentially, the ISPs want to charge internet sites more money to access the "fast lane" and everybody else (like me) that have a web site will have a bumpy web content delivery.  I have seen this described as "The end of the internet as we know it."

I guess that AT&T's $30 Billion profit (revenue minus costs) last year just wasn't enough money.   Greedy bastards!

For the record, I am a Netflix subscriber, but don't use the service much at all. I just like having it as a standby, mostly.

With that profit margin the least ATT could do is provide some semblance of customer service instead of Abu Sin Badin Help Desk Limited operating from a garage in Bombay.

ISPs are getting their hats handed to them, and they don't like it one bit. Due to the advent of Netflix and Amazon, ISPs are losing both face and money, just as I have been predicting for years.

For example, we have had basic TV only for at least four years now. We use Amazon and Netflix to watch movies as well as catch up on TV series. We use it at our convenience rather than waiting for the ISP to make movies available. We enjoy this setup so much more than being forced to choose between movie channel subscriptions and InDemand movies.

I think it's funny as hell. ISPs deserve it.