Here is a simple fact. Net Neutrality is essential to the consumer. Companies like Comcast, Verizon and ATT have spent millions of dollars lobbying the FCC to rescind the regulations. Their claim is that it stifles innovation. Without going into too much technical jargon, I can honestly say this is simply rubbish. This is a power play and a simple win for spending lots of dollars lobbying officials to benefit the mega providers. Nothing here will help the consumer, or even large businesses. There is no doubt that Bluespan will actually benefit from this ruling as when customers learn that Comcast, Centurylink, Cox, Verizon, ATT, etc are all on the side of pushing this through, some will elect to leave those services for a company that believes the internet should not be a “Pay to play” but rather about innovation and the best quality and product wins. For the consumer, this is a massive loss. The big guys want the ability to charge more for access across networks as they see fit. For example, let’s say you use Comcast for your broadband service but don’t pay for their TV service, and instead you opt to stream through Hulu or Netflix, Comcast wants the ability to throttle or limit “certain types of traffic” through their service. I think you get the idea, right? This is simply not good for a free and open market. It gives the big boys all the power to give a super competitive advantage to their already proven to fail products. (Think Cable TV)
Something I urge all consumers to consider is how we got to this massive reversal of policy. Think about this when elections come about. The current FCC board is 3-2 in favor of the Republicans. One can only point to this hard fact as the reason that literally EVERYONE lost this round. The fight will go on though. There is almost certainly going to be legal challenges to this ruling. I would urge all of you to call your elected officials, write letters, and contact the FCC commissioners to voice your opinion, but more importantly, come November, show up and vote. Just maybe we can turn things around.
In the meantime, if you are not happy about this, come over to Bluespan. We believe strongly in net neutrality and our network policy reflects that. If you already are a Bluespan customer we will continue to provide the same great service you’ve always had without throttling or “prioritizing” types of traffic. We believe if you are paying for your bandwidth, then it is yours to do whatever you want with it (legally of course). Bluespan will continue to operate as though the Net Neutrality regulations are still in effect. Your service will not change.
Scott Stace
CEO