back to article Net neutrality activists claim victory in Europe

Net neutrality activists are claiming victory following the publication of final guidelines by European regulators. The Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications, or BEREC, has published 45 pages of rules [PDF] that will act as the baseline for national regulators. They impose strict neutrality regulations on …

  1. Filippo Silver badge

    If they ban zero-rating (and similar crap) while preserving the ability to do QoS, then good work.

    1. John Sager

      Amen. I would love to be able to use QoS markings on incoming packets in my own network. I suspect though that my ISP wouldn't be too keen on acting on QoS marks I send them. It's just too easy to game.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Three mobile

      QOS is fine, but hopefully this will stop the crap that Three is currently pulling for roaming. They effectively block (throttle down to bps) Google so you can't use any of their services, search, maps, mail, drive, anything while allowing Bing to operate at full speed.

      They do the same with many other services. It used to be fine but my latest trip across 10 European countries showed the same problem in every one, and yet a Vodafone roaming or local sim worked fine. Speedtest was showing high speeds on Three, but try to use many services and it wouldn't let you.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Jesus! I'm so tired of living in a socialist hell. =( If it is my infrastructure, and I paid for it, I decide how it is going to be used. Enough said!

    "Although the telco industry is not happy about having potential revenue streams cut off, the thorough policy-making job carried out by BEREC has made it difficult for them to complain."

    And also, let's add that the people being made redundant are not happy too, and the increase in prices are not that great too. I will be forced to pay for the people who stream high definition video, simple as that.

    1. Panimu

      I know right. While I'm here why do I pay Road Tax only for cyclists to use them for free??

      1. James 51

        I know it's pedantic but as you forgot the joke icon, road tax was scrapped seventy nine years ago. Vehicle excise duty is treated as general taxation and there is not a direct link between V.E.D. and spending on roads or other infrastructure.

        1. Teiwaz

          'Road tax'

          Colloquially, people generally still refer to it as 'road tax' though, the ill-informed could easily assume...

          I was never sure for the first year or two of initial car ownership until I actually bothered to look it up.

        2. Erroneous Howard

          VED

          It's also (as I'm sure you know) based on emissions. So unless they start measuring cyclists farts when they ride (which would make a really interesting spectacle in an MOT station!) then they are the same as fully electric cars in that respect (for which you also pay no VED of course).

          Although I think the whole thing was a tongue-in-cheek reply to a tongue-in-cheek reply so I've no idea what I'm on about.

          1. James 51
            Angel

            Re: VED

            Could always try to tax the CO2 emissions but given the health benefits and reduced costs to the NHS from the health improvements it would be counter productive. Perhaps we should all be paid to cycle instead.

        3. nijam Silver badge

          > ... road tax was scrapped ...

          To be even more pedantic, it was not scrapped but renamed. The tariff was unchanged, the collection rules and method were unchanged, the disc you got to stick on the windscreen was unchanged.

          Just saying.

      2. Tom 7

        Road Tax only for cyclists

        given road damage is axle weight to the 4th power the tax charge on a cyclist would cost £4.90 more to collect than the 10p it would bring in. or £49.90 more if the contract is PFIed. And even an unhealthy beer drinking fat bastard like myself doesnt put out anywhere near the pollution of a car.

    2. MartinB105

      There's always one isn't there? If you want someone to blame for the high cost of your Internet, maybe instead of blaming net neutrality or customers you should be looking at all the ISP's who are VASTLY overcharging for their services?

      1. Charles 9

        If they really were scalping, someone would've come along and undercut them by now.

        1. Teiwaz

          "If they really were scalping, someone would've come along and undercut them by now."

          - The battle is on in getting customers to sign up, once the 3 months intro is up, the undercuter ups it again, they've also got shareholders and large executive salaries to pay (not to mention a half assed customer support service to barely run*).

          *This is not meant to be a thinly veiled reference to any provider, they are all much the same.

        2. Gene Cash Silver badge

          > someone would've come along and undercut them by now.

          Look at Google's fiber rollout here in the states. AT&T is fighting tooth and nail to keep them from being able to put their cable on the poles. Various monopoly providers are suing cities and state government to keep Google out.

          And that's a company with Google's deep pockets. A startup wouldn't have a hope.

          I'm sure the telcos in Europe are equally adept at the legal shenanigans to keep possible competitors out.

          1. Lars Silver badge
            Thumb Up

            @ Gene Cash, not to mention how they like to merge. And of course when those awful "unelected" bureaucrats say "no" some people complain and just don't get it.

        3. John Bailey

          "If they really were scalping, someone would've come along and undercut them by now."

          Ahh yes, the "free market will provide" prayer of the deluded.

          Nice theory. Still bullshit.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            In America, criticizing the "(un)free market" is so close to actual heresy, they have to skirt around the issue.

            "I'm not saying saying government should involve itself in private companies, but maybe having raging monopolies isn't in everyone's best interest".

            "I swear on this copy of Atlas Shrugged that I'm not a socialist, but why are drug prices so high in America compared to either Canada or Mexico?"

  3. nijam Silver badge

    > Perhaps we should all be paid to cycle instead.

    Excellent, can I have my f**ked knee joints replaced now? Cycling's not entirely good for your health, it turns out.

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