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A comment on T-Mobile’s Binge On Optimization is Just Throttling, Applies Indiscriminately.

Re:T-Mobile’s Binge On Optimization is Just Throttling, Appl... by mikeash on Monday January 04, 2016 @01:19PM (#10837309)
This is a good example of why providing some traffic for free (as T-Mobile previously did with some music services, for example) should still be considered a net neutrality problem, and be opposed.

ISPs should just be dumb pipes. Route my packets to and from the internet. Charge me for traffic and be done. Anything beyond that and you get into perverse incentives where their desires may not line up with those of their customers.

This sort of video optimization sounds like it could be a valuable service, but if so then it should be done beyond the ISP level. Set it up as a separate service, proxy traffic through it, and do it that way.

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Re:T-Mobile’s Binge On Optimization is Just Throttling, Appl... by ars on Monday January 04, 2016 @02:04PM (#10837687)
> ISPs should just be dumb pipes. Route my packets to and from the internet. Charge me for traffic and be done.

You can do that if you want. There are tons of services that charge you per byte.

They cost more, and people hate them. But if that's important to you, go for it.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:T-Mobile’s Binge On Optimization is Just Throttling, Appl... by mikeash on Monday January 04, 2016 @02:10PM (#10837733)
I thought most ISPs were just dumb pipes, and the move away from that is still pretty limited and proceeding fitfully. As far as I can tell, both my wired (Verizon) and wireless (AT&T) ISPs work that way right now, for example.
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Re:T-Mobile’s Binge On Optimization is Just Throttling, Appl... by feld on Monday January 04, 2016 @04:33PM (#10838827)
Nobody is moving to per-byte or per-gig billing. Everyone is moving away from it. It was a nightmare when I worked at an ISP that had clients still being billed per gig from early 00's.
[ Parent | on HN ]