FCC new rules: open Internet, no throttling, fast lanes or blocking

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freitasm

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#164309 5-Feb-2015 07:09

The FCC supports an open Internet, and extended regulations to mobile networks, saying that 55% of Internet traffic in the USA goes over mobile.

Most importantly:

The first three rules would ban practices that are known to harm the Open Internet:

No Blocking: broadband providers may not block access to legal content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices.
No Throttling: broadband providers may not impair or degrade lawful Internet traffic on the basis of content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices.
No Paid Prioritization: broadband providers may not favor some lawful Internet traffic over other lawful traffic in exchange for consideration – in other words, no “fast lanes.”
This rule also bans ISPs from prioritizing content and services of their affiliates.

This also means no unmetered content for affiliates/partners. New Zealand regulators need to learn from this.

Read the complete release here: Chairman Wheeler Proposes New Rules for Protecting the Open Internet.

Talkiet

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#1231537 5-Feb-2015 09:49

Oh, thank God it's only a proposal. For a second I was terrified that someone had decided the best thing for everyone was to start having a lot of useful services stop working well.

Cheers -N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

pchs

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#1231544 5-Feb-2015 09:55

"This also means no unmetered content for affiliates/partners. New Zealand regulators need to learn from this."

Does this actually state this? No Paid Prioritization to be would be carriers marking the same type of traffic (I.E Video or Voice) with different COS values, I.E just for an example a carrier marking Lightbox higher than Netflix, or marking Skype lower grade than their own voice service.

I can't see where it says that carriers are not allowed to zero rate certain content to their end users?

I don't think we have seen any examples of NZ carriers breaking any of these rules?

n4

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#1231597 5-Feb-2015 11:11

I'm curious how that applies to mobile - specifically VoLTE. Surely VoLTE is (as a mobile voice service delivered over data) a case of 'paid prioritization'. Without prioritization VoLTE would be subject to local congestion issues at a cell site level which would regularly kill the service and/or quality.

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n4

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#1231599 5-Feb-2015 11:14

n4: I'm curious how that applies to mobile - specifically VoLTE. Surely VoLTE is (as a mobile voice service delivered over data) a case of 'paid prioritization'. Without prioritization VoLTE would be subject to local congestion issues at a cell site level which would regularly kill the service and/or quality.

And thinking about it I would assume the same issue would apply to voice services delivered over fixed broadband connections, eg Genius on Orcon.

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Talkiet

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#1231612 5-Feb-2015 11:19

freitasm: The FCC supports an open Internet, and extended regulations to mobile networks, saying that 55% of Internet traffic in the USA goes over mobile.
[snip]

I know the US is different to us, but I can't comprehend that 55% of Internet traffic being mobile is even within an order of magnitude of correct.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

n4

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#1231621 5-Feb-2015 11:26

Talkiet:
freitasm: The FCC supports an open Internet, and extended regulations to mobile networks, saying that 55% of Internet traffic in the USA goes over mobile.
[snip]

I know the US is different to us, but I can't comprehend that 55% of Internet traffic being mobile is even within an order of magnitude of correct.

Cheers - N

I can only assume they are counting wifi as a wireless network.

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#1231623 5-Feb-2015 11:29

Nope... I read the linked article. It's pretty clear that it refers to mobile Broadband in context.

While the FCC’s 2010 open Internet rules had limited applicability to mobile broadband, the new rules –

in their entirety – would apply to mobile broadband, recognizing advances in technology and the growing

significance of wireless broadband access in recent years. Today, 55 percent of Internet traffic is carried

over wireless networks. This proposal extends protection to consumers no matter how they access the

Internet, whether they on their desktop computer or their mobile devices.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

n4

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#1231626 5-Feb-2015 11:34

n4:
n4: I'm curious how that applies to mobile - specifically VoLTE. Surely VoLTE is (as a mobile voice service delivered over data) a case of 'paid prioritization'. Without prioritization VoLTE would be subject to local congestion issues at a cell site level which would regularly kill the service and/or quality.

And thinking about it I would assume the same issue would apply to voice services delivered over fixed broadband connections, eg Genius on Orcon.

Having now read it, it does exclude services which don't run over public internet, 'eg VoIP from a cable connection'. Interesting line to draw, especially if some of the VoIP is onward routed via interconnect links over the internet...

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n4

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#1231627 5-Feb-2015 11:40

Talkiet: Nope... I read the linked article. It's pretty clear that it refers to mobile Broadband in context.

While the FCC’s 2010 open Internet rules had limited applicability to mobile broadband, the new rules – in their entirety – would apply to mobile broadband, recognizing advances in technology and the growing significance of wireless broadband access in recent years. Today, 55 percent of Internet traffic is carried over wireless networks. This proposal extends protection to consumers no matter how they access the Internet, whether they on their desktop computer or their mobile devices. Cheers - N

According to Cisco VNI 'Globally, 46 percent of total mobile data traffic was offloaded onto the fixed network through Wi-Fi or femtocell in 2014. In 2014, 2.2 exabytes of mobile data traffic were offloaded onto the fixed network each month. Without offload, mobile data traffic would have grown 84 percent rather than 69 percent in 2014.'

Which suggests they are counting wifi connected mobile traffic as mobile traffic. FCC might follow the same line of thought. If not, I have trouble believing that number.

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#1231646 5-Feb-2015 11:44

freitasm: The FCC supports an open Internet, and extended regulations to mobile networks, saying that 55% of Internet traffic in the USA goes over mobile. ...

This suggests that:

US mobile networks are very good &/or
US wired networks are very bad &/or
they have an unusual definition of "internet traffic" &/or "mobile" &/or
they got their sums wrong.

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