Net neutrality not quite neutral

The Federal Communications Commission took steps Tuesday to ensure a level playing field on the Internet — as long as you connect by land line, like through a cable modem or telephone service company. People relying on wireless connections, like smart phones and other mobile wireless devices, will have their own set of rules.

“Net neutrality,” the policy stating Internet service providers must treat all websites as equals, was approved. This means your cable or telephone ISP cannot divert or slow traffic from any website, especially those streaming lots of data to your home computer, such as movie or streaming video sites.

I understand ISPs’ concerns. They’re improving their infrastructure to handle additional data flowing across their systems. In many cases, customers are dropping movie and other cable services from these ISPs in favor of the same content provided by other companies through the World Wide Web.

The FCC carved out wireless Internet providers, giving them the OK to charge companies higher fees for higher-bandwidth services. This will likely become an ongoing issue, as the newest wireless technology, Long-Term Evolution, or LTE, is providing connection speeds rivaling the hard-wired providers like cable and phone companies.

Will customers pay more to watch movies and video on their tablets, phones and laptops? Looks as if they may not have a choice.

I know if I were running a cable or telephone company's land line ISP service, I would immediately work on competing in the wireless world. Bottom line is, customers will be paying for the bandwidth they consume. Nobody knows yet exactly what those rates and fees will be, since LTE and 4G wireless connectivity are so new.

Stay tuned, but do it from a land line or Wi-Fi connection if you can.

Read more about the FCC net neutrality ruling:
Associated Press story on Yahoo:
Divided FCC adopts rules to protect Web traffic
http://yhoo.it/hY3Ss5