I’m still trying to wrap my head around all the intricacies of the net neutrality debate. The latest twist is a report that Verizon plans to reserve 80% of the capacity of its network for its video service. This has prompted some to argue that Verizon is skewing the Net.
Leading Net companies say that Verizon’s actions could keep some rivals off the road. As consumers try to search Google, buy books on Amazon.com, or watch videos on Yahoo!, they’ll all be trying to squeeze into the leftover lanes on Verizon’s network. On Feb. 7 the Net companies plan to take their complaints about Verizon’s plans to the Senate during a hearing on telecom reform. “The Bells have designed a broadband system that squeezes out the public Internet in favor of services or content they want to provide,” says Paul Misener, vice-president for global policy at Amazon.com.
But I don’t see how Google or Amazon have a right to tell Verizon how it should allocate the capacity of its network–and certainly not by running to the Senate. This is a different issue than Verizon trying to charge those companies for access to their customers. It would seem that this is a matter of internal allocation of a company’s resources. If customers aren’t happy with the speeds they’re getting because 80% of the bandwidth is tied up in video, they can always switch providers–to the cable companies and hopefully to wireless providers some day. That’s why we need deregulation to ensure competition, not regulation of what firms can do with their own pipes.
P.S. Does anyone know what FCC filing the report is referring to?
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