Net Neutrality. At it’s most basic, its the principle that all internet content sources and applications have equal access to the internet, and to all internet subscribers, including you. And that no internet provider can price access to the internet to give one source or application over another. The internet has been a free for all, and as far as the Net Neutrality supporters are concerned (and Im not arguing one way or the other here), that is the way it should always be.
But what about in your house or apartment ? Do you want all applications running on your XBox/PS3/WII gaming devices to be treated equally with the applications running on your Roku/Tivo Premiere/Media Server to be treated equally with the applications running on your PC/Laptop to be treated equally with your new HDTV that has wireless internet access ? Or would you want to give priority to one application over another ? Do want the content you just paid for to be interrupted by the email being downloaded with the huge attachment some idiot just sent you ?
Do want the streams from Netflix coming to the TV in your bedroom through your PS3 to be treated equally with the bandwidth needed for your 7 year old little sister/ daughter playing on Barbie.com to be treated equally with the streams of Mom/Dad/Husband/Wife/Significant Other watching Totally Rad on Revision 3 ?
If you don’t, how are you going to fix this problem ?
If you think fighting over the remote control, or which show gets DVRd at 8pm on Sundays is bad, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
I got news for everyone, the bandwidth in your home is more limited and more variable and harder to manage than the bandwidth coming into your house from the internet.
How many of you are up to speed on network management for the wireless router you have in your house ? What about those of you with more than one router and no idea how they connect ? How many of you want to know what network management is ?
Are we going to see an Iphone/Ipad app for managing network resources or will families just post who gets access to bandwidth on a note on the fridge ?
6pm Joanie gets to play Barbie.com while johnny downloads and uploads your homework (yes Johnny, it means you have to be done by 7pm sharp young man !)
7pm Mom gets to look up her real estate listings and download and upload whatever pictures she needs. She also has those videos she took on the Flip she got for Xmas that she wants to upload to Filesanywhere.com and to Picassa. EVERYONE PROMISES not to be on the network from 7pm to8pm. These are movies and pictures from the pageant that are going to end up in those stupid books she gives all of us on our birthdays. You know how annoyed and flustered mom gets if something times out. Johnny, I’m talking to you. I’m not going to show her how to restart those stupid uploads any more.. Unless she pays me 5 bucks like last time, right mom 🙂
8pm Game Time. Kids get to play whatever games, or watch whatever they want to watch ON THEIR OWN BOXES. Joanie, that means no XBox. You wanted a WII and we got you one. You can use the family PC to watch videos on Youtube if you want, but ONLY on the playlist that dad and I put together for you. Clear ???
9pm Dad gets to watch those old movies from Netflix. When he is done, he is going to do the backup
11pm Backup all the PCs time. Remember, if you want everything backed up, you have to stay off the network. You know how dad gets if all his new stuff doesn’t get backed up every night.
You can watch regular tv on the tv in the living room or your own room anytime you want.
Any requests for changes to the schedule have to be in before Johnny leaves for school in the morning.
You get the idea.
Like they said in Seinfeld, you will have to be “The master of your own domain “. Being a network manager is not an easy job. Just ask your cable or telco internet provider. Yet that is the exact job you are looking to undertake .
Anyone out there think provisioning bandwidth at home is easy ???
I actually have been looking at the opposite problem, Mark. The Electric Power Board (EPB) serving Chattanooga, TN (of all places) is in the process of deploying fiber to all of the homes they serve with the entry point for service being 15Mbps symmetrical up to 50Mbps symmetrical. In a discussion with the CEO he mentioned that with some core system upgrades (not huge dollars) they could get a gig connection to every home. The problem then is what to do with all that bandwidth; most people don’t have a gigabit router or Cat-6 wiring to support it. So, to your point, with too little bandwidth people don’t have the hardware, software, or skills to manage it and with too much bandwidth people don’t don’t have the hardware, software, or skills to manage it. I think the best point is that there is a great opportunity for someone to step up with great products for home networking and home network management, as opposed to the products available today that are neither easy to use nor modular.
Comment by dougdigit -
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Considering I’ve been coming at you in an antagonistic way, I decided to sit back and actually THINK about what you wrote.
I think the disconnect is that many people don’t have to worry about the Internet connectivity of an umpteen-thousand square foot mansion. For most people, buffering and general inefficiency in the home network is just par for the course. When my NetFlix stream readjusts because of a degradation in my network connection, I really don’t think about it. It’s an inconvenience but I think most people just accept it.
People simply want to treat their network connectivity like they treat their TV signal… they don’t want to think about it. “Net neutrality” is definitely something that doesn’t work in practice right now in the home in the sense that being able to efficiently manage a home network connection definitely improves the experience. I agree that the issue will become a greater problem as people do more with their home networks. However, I still don’t think there is a direct correlation with the Net Neutrality issue at the ISP level. I think the two are apples and oranges.
Comment by sinisterx -
“(and Im not arguing one way or the other here)”
Uh, yes you are
Comment by bmurray -
As with most small installations, it’s a lot simpler to buy more bandwidth than it is to implement QOS.
Of course, there’s always the traditional manual form of QOS that we used back in the day when we had single wired phone lines at home. You simply yell “GET OFF THE PHONE, RIGHT NOW!”. That still works almost as well on your home network.
Normal people certainly understand this sort of resource allocation. I’d bet that a majority of people in the US think that only one computer can use their home internet at once.
Comment by shandrew0 -
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/05/wifi-wigig.html
7Gbps stated bandwidth ( limitations include smaller footprint , 2 years away)
This technology, in its present form , may or may not make it but this goes to show that more bandwidth is coming to our homes.
Barbie.com start preparing for the assault on your servers as kids can access you anytime they want !!!!
Comment by carldupree -
Just to be clear, the difference between “quality of service” and “net neutrality” is this:
– quality of service: let’s make sure higher-priority traffic gets there sooner
– net neutrality: let’s make that who you are doesn’t affect the priority of your traffic
Comment by jonathanstray -
The problem you describe isn’t net neutrality, it’s a network design issue called “quality of service.” There are reasonable engineering solutions to this, but they’re hard to implement on top of current generation IP technology. The (gradual) shift to IPv6 should improve matters greatly.
Comment by jonathanstray -
This is a great information… it seems you’ve uncovered a really big issue for which there are not many good solutions. Have you tried using any of the QoS features in home routers today? It sucks and doesn’t seem to do anything. I think the task of packet identification must be harder to do than it would seem because the QoS would be much better. I’m a software developer (unemployed) so if you want to partner up on some cool networking software, drop me a note. I’ll work for free if you help me with the marketing aspect, and some guidance on functionality.
Regards,
Rich
rich@otown411.com
Comment by rbianco3 -
I think that says it all…
Comment by Matches Malone -
This is stupid.
Comment by xier03 -
imagine this scenario:
noon – the a/c kicks on and continues to use large amounts of electricity until 7 or 8 pm
3 pm – the kids get home from school and turn the lights on in every room in the house, even though they know dad would go apeshit. johnny then turns on the tv and the wii, susie turns on the tv, fires up the computer, and plugs in her phone that she drained while sending text messages during english class
4:30 pm – johnny runs the microwave to cook up some ez-mac that will most certainly ruin his appetite for dinner
5 pm – dad gets home, turns off all the lights, and continues to rant about electricity bills while he turns on the living room tv and entertainment center to watch espn
5:30 pm – mom gets home and tells johnny and susie to quit playing around and do their homework, both turn off their monitors and leave the devices running so they don’t have to boot up again or lose their saved game later. then they both turn on desklamps and radios and sit down to pretend that they are doing homework
5:45 pm – mom and dad go into the kitchen and stare at each other and the open fridge, trying to decide what to eat tonight
6 pm – kitchen breaker pops after simultaneous use of rice maker, food processor, microwave, and the little tv in the kitchen that mom and dad can never agree on (tonight it is her turn, and hgtv is on)
6:03 pm – dad resets breaker
6:20 pm – dinner is served, nothing is turned off because everybody plans on going back to whatever they were doing before
in this scenario, dad doesn’t know much about home wiring … he knows that the breaker sometimes needs to be reset, but johnny and susie also know that … perhaps if he hired an electrician he could have the kitchen rewired so that this doesn’t happen again, but it only happens every once in a while, and that damn rice maker is usually at fault … as long as the juice comes in, and goes through the panel installed by a qualified electrician, everybody pretty much gets what they want (except dad, he wants a smaller electricity bill) … shortages are dealt with on a case by case basis, and if they become prevalent they are dealt with by a qualified individual …
obviously the analogy fails on multiple levels, but on the levels it succeeds …
Comment by whwillisiv -
What i’m saying is I wouldn’t need to tell a 7 year old anything, the application would automatically adjust. Something like built in QoS.
Comment by vegaxobscura -
Don’t we do that now, when we click on YouTube videos? And online, you can open all the channels at once. Maybe I’ve lived too long with the free model, however, I’m not seeing how channel surfing is something you would even do, if you’re requesting on demand programming….
Comment by Matches Malone -
There’s definitely alot of variables to an internet based video delivery service that have to be taken under consideration before it would be ready for primetime.
The ability of a household wireless N network to function well with multiple video streams and computer streams operating at the same time is one of the variables.
btw, a nice thing about cable and DVRs is you can quickly switch between programs. Channel surfing on an internet based on-demand delivery service would be Buffer City.
Comment by trip1ex -
Jiminy Xmas, folks, it’s called QoS (quality of service) management, your $40 wireless router you bought at [insert local electronics store here] probably has it, and if you can’t figure it out, the [insert local electronics store’s silly named tech support group here] will come and set it up for you. I anxiously await the next big huge ‘problem’ that is bigger than [insert local cable company here] limiting my bandwidth available to [insert internet content provider here] because they have their own competing content.
Comment by spoonsduke -
As for managing network activity in the homes, it’s a definite problem already. I experience it myself. Sounds like a great opportunity for a smart entrepreneur to come up with a solution that allows users to *easily* prioritize bandwidth, without giving up control (which is what happens if ISPs are charged with controlling it).
Comment by mateo2 -
Your definition of net neutrality is incorrect:
“At it’s most basic, its the principle that all internet content sources and applications have equal access to the internet, and to all internet subscribers, including you.”
It’s the opposite. It’s the principle that all internet subscribers have equal access to all content sources and applications. The internet is PULL, not PUSH. YouTube doesn’t force its videos into my computer, I request them.
Comment by mateo2 -
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Short of having dial-up to your LAN, it would be pretty hard to use up all of your bandwidth (I did check out barbie.com just to see if I was missing anything haha).
Is provisioning bandwidth hard? It probably can be for some people but if it comes to that, it isn’t anything you can’t google or youtube…
Comment by justinsoliz -
@geedeck I think Mark has been trolling his own blog for awhile now, however, this is the first time I’ve seen him called out on it 🙂
He may be right in the fact that eventually, network management will come to the home, however, I do agree with others that the specific examples are spurious.
Comment by Matches Malone -
I think I understand your point but anyone who has read your blog knows where you stand so your post is a bit disingenuous. Your example fails because, in my own home, I KNOW what activities are taking place and can therefore make a reasonable attempt to manage bandwidth (though I really don’t try, I take it as it comes). ISP’s may know the nature of the web traffic that runs through their servers RIGHT NOW but they have no idea what traffic they may have IN THE FUTURE… and what I mean by that is they have no idea of knowing who’s going to start an Internet based venture that may end up producing an enormous amount of value. Could Google or Yahoo have come into existence without Net Neutrality? For that matter, could Broadcast.com have ever existed if you had to pay a premium for the bandwidth you used? And that’s the issue… no one knows how the Internet is going to be used IN THE FUTURE. It’s a simplistic argument to say that ISPs should be able to manage their networks however they want. However, many people understand that threat to innovation this poses. It’s a double-edged sword but I’m on the side that protects future innovation. As a content provider with deep pockets, you are obviously on the side that gives you a business advantage and creates a barrier to entry for possible competitors. That’s your prerogative but, considering how you made your own fortune, it’s pretty hypocritical.
From MC> Im not taking a stance on Net Neutrality. My point with this post is that few people , if any , are considering the complications of managing the network inside your house. The more we use our inhome networks , the more complicated it will be and the more expensive and aggravating it will be to deal with. Which will impact how people consume applications onlines vs offline
Comment by sinisterx -
Your scenario is so out there that it is like asking what if the sky was black.
I think you were specifically talking about wireless bandwidth management, but it’s hard to be sure. It seems like you are saying that if i am consuming large amounts of bandwidth from my provider(which is already set to certain priorities…voice being queued first). So there is no issue from my provider to my house, but once in the house from my router i can’t stream data in a sufficient way for everyone within the house. If this is what you are saying it could be so easily fixed by having the application consuming the data adjust to the amount of data available. What other data takes up considerable bandwidth that a average consumer would be receiving but video….
If you were saying that the bandwidth was an issue coming from the provider then maybe, but that is their fault. They were not proactive to the market, and instead reacted by charging us more. I’m sorry I don’t weep for them having to see less profits, because they now have to scramble to build infrastructure that should have been done years ago.
From MC> So how are you going to tell your 7 year old who is streaming a video to his/her Itouch to make sure that it rate shapes to conserve bandwidth ? managing resources is not going to be as simple as you hope. Particularly given the expectation that high bit rate applications will expand significantly in the future.
Comment by vegaxobscura -
I think you’re implicating a worst case scenario on top of worst case scenario on top of worst case scenario.
If this weren’t your own blog, it’d be called trolling.
Long story short, democratic management of small, local networks has really no significant maintenance challenges. Gentlemen’s agreements work for home/work space among people you already have a social agreement with. Net Neutrality is for dealing the rest of horrible, horrible humanity.
Comment by geedeck -
“network management for the wireless router”?
errr… yeah I manage the crap out of that! I plug it in and then 4 or 5 years later when I’m moving to a different place, I unplug it.
absent of interference in the market place (in the name of neutrality), supply, demand, and price will always adjust to avoid the doomsday scarcity you have been talking about as of lately.
Comment by Jeff Nabers -
At 15 meg down and 1.5 meg up over cable, it’s not an issue at our household. On the other hand, the ISP could not provide those speeds if everyone on the node actually saturated the connection.
Comment by fearsomefinance -
If home networks are tough to manage ( picassa , netflix , filesanywhere & … ) imagine what the corporate world must be going through ? They with their employees who are on the computers for 8-9 hours a day ( far more than the time they spend on computers at home )
What are they running for their networks ? some kind of hyper-super-duper-ultra-mega-monster-peta-zeta-bit LAN ?
No most companies still run Gigabit LAN ( some of them even have 100mbps LAN )
Emailing , facebooking , mlb.tv , youtubing , googling happens on corporate lans along with revenue generating operations.
most small companies ( < 100 employees) connects to the internet on a single T1 line and they dont require interns to logoff the internet because the CEO wants to look at his facebook.
Most small firms dont have sophisticated network management programs/devices .
So why are we worried about a normal american home consisting of 4-6 "employees" ?
From MC> are you serious ? why do you think corporations have people who do nothing but manage networks ? Why do you think the network at work has times when its slower than others ? Why do you think quite a few companies block websites/packet types/ streaming in order to preserve bandwidth ? When 4 to 6 people in your home want to watch TV over the internet, you will certainly know it .
Comment by carldupree -
Continuing Twitter discussion in a forum with more, ahem, bandwidth… tweets for context…
OneTrueBaba @mcuban Most of what you list limited by *external* bandwidth (your ISP, not your home network) i.e. 6Mdown/0.5Mup vs 54Mb+ WiFi home net
mcuban @OneTrueBaba (via @icerocket) u r assuming most home routers are properly configured. And that all the devices are same 802.x ver. Nope…
Let’s start here: “I got news for everyone, the bandwidth in your home is more limited and more variable and harder to manage than the bandwidth coming into your house from the internet.”
Original 802.11 was 2Mbps, 802.11b is up to 11Mbps, 802.11a/g is up to 54Mbps 802.11n is 100Mbps+. Homes could also have 10Mbps, 100Mbps or 1000Mbps ethernet.
DSLreports.com (citing Akamai) says average U.S. Broadband speed is 3.8Mbps. [ http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Average-US-Broadband-Speed-38Mbps-107992 ] Keep in mind this is downstream speed, upstream is typically a fraction of downstream for most U.S. ISPs. My ISP’s starter package is 3Mbps down and 1Mbps up. My last ISP’s basic package was 4Mbps down and 768Kbps up. [I pay a pretty penny for my ISP’s top package with more bandwidth (24Mbps/3Mbps) but standard, reasonably priced packages are much more limited]
I would find it hard to argue that “bandwidth in your home is more limited … than the bandwidth coming into your house from the internet.”
Let’s take a look at some of the activities in your timeline
* 6pm
– Barbie.com – lots of flash site, typical pre-tween activity (I know, I’ve got a 10-year-old girl)… Flash games range maybe 1-10MB for the initial download, a lot less in the traffic during usage.
– Johnny downloading/uploading homework… let’s assume Johnny’s got an old computer and a bad WiFi signal only getting about 5Mbps… his download is still limited by the “average” 3.8Mbps ISP and his upload is almost certainly gated by the ISP’s upstream limit.
* 7pm
– Again, unless Mom’s got a 10+ year old 2Mbps 802.11 WiFi card, then mom’s downloads are also limited by the ISP. Flip movie uploads? I hope she’s got the time while the ISP chokes that upload at 0.5-3Mbps.
* 8pm Game Time
– Network games, even ones that “require” broadband still must cater to the “lowest common denominator” of ISP bandwidth. There’s still plenty of DSL out there with 1.5Mbps down and 256Kbps up. Online game developers have spent years optimizing their network usage, and until recently they had to deal with the possibility of someone trying to play on dial-up. MMOs, shooters, etc. all play fine with a few hundred Kbps down and even less up. This is not taxing the home network.
– Downloading games / game updates is another story, but again you’re much more likely to be limited by your ISP’s downstream speed than your home network.
* 9pm Dad’s movie time
– I hope dad doesn’t have a nice HDTV, because his “average” 3.8Mbps ISP can’t provide the 7Mbps necessary for HD NetFlix streaming, he only gets to stream SD.
– If dad’s got a better ISP package, then he’s also probably got a 54Mbps WiFi router (likely provided and configured by the ISP) or ethernet… both more than sufficient to stream his HD movies.
* 11pm Backup PCs
– Here’s the one item on your list that is actually limited by the home network. Purely a function of how much data to backup and how fast the connections within the home are. This will slow other network traffic but not prevent it – dad can surf his favorite sports blogs while his backups are running and Mom’s video uploads are still churning along at the low ISP upstream rate.
Then there’s the “… more variable and harder to manage” and “assuming most home routers are properly configured” part of the argument. This is a lot more subjective and not necessarily a “network neutrality” issue.
The last couple of times I’ve got new ISP data service, the ISP 1) provided the router/ethernet switch/wifi router (usually in the same box) and 2) came to my home and setup both the router and my devices.
I’ve also setup friends/family many times with WiFi routers from Best Buy (NetGear, Cisco, whatever) and each of those setups was trivial following the instructions on a small card that came with the box and then typing in a network name and password on the devices.
These setups have also been more of a “it works or it doesn’t” operation than a “it kind of works, but it’s slow on Tuesdays and Fridays” thing.
Sure, there’s plenty that can go wrong with router setups, and WiFi can be a pain in the butt when you’re mixing old WEP devices on a WPA2 network or whatever, but that’s a whole lot more of a tech support issue than a “bandwidth management” issue.
And to go back to a more technology point of view, IP (Internet Protocol) is designed to *degrade gracefully* so it’s not like if Mom is using all 3.8Mbps of the Internet no one else in the house can use the net; everyone’s access is just going to be slower… and still probably limited by the ISP and not the home network.
The underlying technology is “neutral” by default… if the pipe is full, all traffic goes along, just slower.
Now let’s take another look a similar family… they’re middle class and they use the net a lot, so dad pays for a medium-tier ISP package (let’s say 14Mbps down and 2Mbps up). The ISP provided a 54Mbps WiFi router, setup the router and devices and used a WiFi signal meter to verify good coverage in the house (all things my current ISP did during install).
Joanie is playing on Barbie.com, Johnny is downloading/uploading homework files, Mom is uploading/downloading video, and dad is playing Halo on the Xbox while he’s waiting for the kids to go to bed so he can stream Bullit on NetFlix.
All of these things happen at the same time just fine. Sure the downloading/uploading compete for bandwidth (compete for *ISP* bandwidth), but they still happen. Maybe Joanie’s initial Flash downloads take 12 seconds instead of 7. Maybe Mom’s 10 megapixel real estate photos take 6 seconds to download instead of 3. Everyone’s uploads are still capped by the ISP.
Dad’s backups can flood the home network, but dad can start (or schedule) his backups when everyone’s in bed and he’s had a glass of whiskey after watching the Mavs go down in round 1 (friendly jab – most of my family are Mavs fans, the rest Spurs).
I want my networks (home and ISP) to be neutral – I want the speed to degrade gracefully as the technology is designed to do.
I *do not* want my World of Warcraft patch download (using BitTorrent) or my VPN connection to the office to be slower because CNN or Google paid my ISP for preferential treatment. I certainly don’t want any available internet service to be *blocked* because my ISP doesn’t like it.
I’m old and crusty enough to remember the early days of IRC (Internet Relay Chat), one of the precursors to most chat/messaging on the net these days.
Back in those days ISPs saw IRC traffic growing at huge multiples of all other traffic on the net. Some were terrified that IRC was going to take down the net and there was talk of blocking IRC.
Well, IRC didn’t destroy the internet, and “instant” messaging services like AIM, MSN, Twitter, etc. are some of the most useful things out there these days. What if ISPs had blocked or charged additional fees to use IRC, this “dangerous new bandwidth consuming technology?”
A picture is worth a thousand words, and I think the graphic here gets the point across quite well: http://dvice.com/archives/2009/10/net-neutrality.php
– baba
Comment by baba42 -
uploading homework? surfing barbie.com ? uploading pics to picasa?
a 7Mbps broadband connection is more than enough for these tasks even if they are bring done at the same time.
find some better examples for the FUD like John downloading the latest blockbuster via torrents while Dad is downloading the latest MS Office from the Usenet.
As a response to zeke’s comment there is a talk about the decisions to be made to manage the home network & the post towards the end also moved from talking about managing the ISP pipe ( talk abt deciding between picassa & netflix ) towards managing the home network.
Hello GigaBit Lan ( wired homes can run Gigabit LAN ) !!!
Hello Wireless-N ( 100 mbps atleast ) !!!
Or are some households using carrier pigeons for moving the bits in their home network that the pigeons get tired after moving 1MB ?
seriously with the kind of bandwidth available in the home network why would you need to manage it?
Not everyday everyone backs up gigabits of data ( i would love to know about the household which generates gigabits of incremental data everyday that needs to be backed up )
Not every kid’s daily homework involves gigabits of data to be moved between the dad ( who maybe doing the homework ) to the kid’s computer
Seriously Mark what are the bandwidth hungry apps inside the home network ?
If your concern is about the management of access to the ISP pipe , your examples fall way short of utilizing it to the full extent. Netflix comes close , but i do fine while watching a HD show & replying to incoming emails @ gmail.
The Logic has left the blog!!!!
From MC> You might want to examine the difference between “rated throughput ” of wireless lans and actual throughput in people’s homes. Distance, interference, location of routers, walls, software versions, configuration of the routers and software, configuration of the application software. Dont we wish all the technology worked exactly how we hoped it would. Any shared, contention avoidance network is only as good as its weakest link. I dont think 99pct of consumers are going to know or realize that how their networks are configured matters and even if they did, they wouldnt know what to do. Time will tell us whether managing a home network will be an inhibitor to ease of access to the internet or not
Comment by carldupree -
So are we going back to dial-up access, Mark? Talk about an armageddon-like argument from someone who should seriously know better. As Zeke said, even if we were so limited that we could only choose a single application to run at once, consumers would still have a choice of what app they would use and they would have the ability to access that app via the internet.
Under your preferred scenario, internet access providers would not only be able to choose what speed you access the net but also what apps or content that you could use. That sounds like the worst of both worlds view.
If internet access providers are in such rough shape, why don’t they charge access feels to additional bandwidth and still be net neutral? Oh wait, they already do. That’s why I pay more for internet than my neighbors. I can queue up netflix in seconds and it takes them a minute or two. Just a grab (a self-interested one for you too).
From MC> Did you even read what I wrote ? Its about the network INSIDE your house. The one you connect everything to, that YOU have to manage that will be the problem. Not the ISP. The post isnt about decisions the ISP will make. Its about the decisions YOU will have to make in the management of the network inside your house that will create the problem
Comment by Lance Haun -
This is a pretty distracting argument that seems to associate the issue of personal resource management with the very different legal issues involved with Net Neutrality. Yes, managing a local or wide access network is hard. But the difference is that while you have the freedom to control how your home network functions, ISPs are actively trying to take away users’ freedoms to have unconstrained access to the Internet, wanting to make big decisions about which resources you are and aren’t allowed to access on their networks.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Cable businessman wants artificial advantages for his content. News at 11. (Unless your network says you can’t watch that news.)
Comment by Zeke -
While not easy, I do have a degree in this stuff, so, I’m sure I’ll figure it out. However, you posit a house with more than one wireless router, and I know of several that don’t even have the one. How far in the future are you prognosticating this time, Mark? I don’t believe we’ll have to micro manage our bandwidth as you describe. You do however bring up some interesting points.
Comment by Matches Malone -
Yes.
Damn, I was hoping to see a good well thought out argument here, but I don’t really see the point of your post. How is this any different than now? Why is bandwidth going to be so limited that they can’t do these all at the same time?
Comment by carnitastaco -