said by Karl Bode:But here's where you're wrong: Wireless carriers that provide wireless broadband service have no choice but to implement some version of "per-byte" billing. "Unlimited" wireless bandwidth for a fixed monthly fee is 100% out of the question, with or without "net neutrality" legislation, or the threat thereof. You guys are smart enough to know that spectrum is limited and wireless carriers cannot build fiber-served cell towers every 500 meters.
Yes, I agree to some degree about wireless networks. Most of this was written with terrestrial networks in mind. Per-byte billing is already fairly established with 3G service.
Keep in mind I'm not wholly against network management or even caps in some instances (wireless being a particularly good one). I do oppose metered billing and overages on terrestrial connections, though, and any and all limits need to be made perfectly clear to the consumer.
But it looks like Genachowski and the FCC plan on forcing net neutrality on wireless as well. Though they do say MAYBE some adjustments would be needed for wireless.
The CTIA sees some real problems coming out of those new rules:
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news.yahoo.com/s/nf/2009 ··· nf/69172What was once the battleground for wired service providers has been expanded to the flourishing wireless industry, and that spells bad news for large telecom and cable operators
As of now, these companies can restrict any device, application, service or content on their networks that competes with their own products, Zacks Investment Research explained in a research note. "The FCC recommendation will disallow this discriminatory practice on the part of wireless, wireline or cable operators from either blocking or slowing access to any video or phone services.
"As we have said before, we are concerned about the unintended consequences Internet regulation would have on consumers, considering that competition within the industry has spurred innovation, investment and growth for the U.S. economy," said Chris Guttman-McCabe, vice president of regulatory affairs for CTIA.
"From the carrier perspective, the FCC is reopening a discussion that had been closed as of the last spectrum action. Some of the spectrum was auctioned off with explicit Net-neutrality rules, and some was not. There were different prices for those different blocks of spectrum," Greengart said. "To now go back and say that government would potentially like the entire wireless industry to operate by different rules than the ones that were just implemented in the last bidding process, which wasn't that long ago, raises red flags for them."
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