Re:FCC weakens net neutrality rule in a prelude to larger ro...
by wtallis on Friday February 24, 2017 @08:09PM
(#13729393)
Any such ISP would be lying to their customers with a false dichotomy. The smart way of shaping network traffic to ensure consistent performance for all non-video traffic would have the side effect of ensuring consistent performance for all video traffic, up to the limit of the ISP having oversubscribed their lines—and that limit obviously still exists for non-video uses too.
Video is not the problem. Congestion is, whether or not video is part of the traffic contributing to the congestion. Congestion can be managed reasonably without discriminating against video, and even if an ISP wants to discriminate against video (eg. due to having a conflict of interest in the form of a separate video delivery service) the ISP should still want robust congestion management in place to handle growing volumes of non-video traffic.
What if a company wanted to offer 2 networks for customers: 1 in which they tell you they'll shape the network traffic to ensure consistent performance for all non-video traffic and another in which they tell it's completely unshaped?
It would be interesting to see the two side by side as actual consumer choices. If I'm buying for an office, for example, I'd take the shaped-kill-the-video plan all dang day. If I'm at home...not so much.