'Big Internet' wades into 'net neutrality' battle with the FCC Major internet companies have submitted their comments to the US Federal Communications Commission's consultation on new rules for internet discrimination and pricing – the so-called "net neutrality" consultation. The Internet Association – which lobbies on behalf of Google, Amazon, Facebook and others including Reddit – said …
I would make the arguement that ALL phone companies are ISP's, there is no plain old telephone service in any metro area anymore. It mostly travels via fiber over what is now called the "Internet". Who provides that service is often not the phone company anymore.
The days of big relays and mechanical switching of calls are practically gone in most areas.
"The days of big relays and mechanical switching of calls are practically gone in most areas." POTS hasn't used that stuff for some decades. I've got POTS in my area, and it's been digital switching and multiplexing for a very long time. That said, you're right, most things travel over the net these days and there's not really any differentiation of things like TV and telephone.
So, when the article says:
"The FCC was given a mandate to increase broadband adoption, but that's about it.", that sounds fine, but what they really should be doing is encouraging (much) more infrastructure to handle the anticipated traffic.
Yes, but it's been on a circuit-switched digital network. That's the magic of POTS---if you get a connection (which is roughly always), you have ~3kHZ of bandwidth of your very own, all yours until you or your interlocutor hang up. No worries about handing off to an overloaded cell; I get continuous service through power outages thanks to copper wires and walls of batteries back at the central office. That's why they'll only get my POTS by prying it...you get the Idea.
<rant>Why do people persist in buying flash and glitter which operates worse than the boring old stuff? I have friends whom I've given up on communicating with because I can't understand them through the distortion and interference, and can't hold a conversation with for the call dropping every few minutes. With any luck I'll be dead of natural causes before the telcos finally persuade their governments that the old service is so 1950s, no one needs it anymore.</rant>
Oh, yes, and for US$30 I get to talk to anyone in the country for as long as I like. Try that on a cell phone.
If it's damn near obsolete that means we're currently deploying new technology to replace it. And if it's new technology that we're just now starting to deploy, it is by definition young technology. And the FCCs remit is only to encourage young technology. Which is where we came in at.
You've created a straw man.
It means nothing of the sort. I have a VERY intimate knowledge of the phone system of the US. The backbone and foundation are held together by gum and bailing wire.
Literally.
What's being rolled out for the "last mile" was proposed 20 years ago. Any back-haul upgrades are the same. Overdue and old technology.
The gee whiz shiny bits are just for show. Token gestures, as it were.
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