• rhacer@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Can anyone point me to any cases where the lack of net neutrality has harmed customers.

    I don't believe I've seen any, but I also have not been paying very close attention to the subject.

    • wagoner@infosec.pub
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      1 year ago

      Post trump FCC ending net neutrality, AT&T self-preferenced its online streaming service HBO Max, unfairly disadvantaging its streaming competitors. This only ended when California passed its own net neutrality law. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/atts-hbo-max-deal-was-never-free

      To learn more on the subject, you could read: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/where-net-neutrality-today-and-what-comes-next-2021-review

    • Riskable@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      Simple example every Comcast customer suffers with: Comcast services (including VoIP and streaming TV) don't count towards the monthly bandwidth cap. So if you watch 2 seasons of a show in 4k via Comcast's streaming service that doesn't count towards the cap but if you watch the very same show via Netflix it'll put you over your bandwidth cap, resulting in additional fees.

      It's an egregious violation of network neutrality and, IMHO an abuse of their natural monopoly. Internet providers should not be allowed to also sell content/streaming services or own media companies! It's a huge conflict of interest that will always disfavour the consumer.

      Furthermore, when Comcast streams their own services they get priority over all other traffic; even traffic going to your neighbor's Internet connections. So if your neighborhood is experiencing a bandwidth crunch and your neighbor decides to watch some 4k stream via Comcast's service the back-end routers will prioritize that traffic over any and all other traffic which will interfere with everyone's else's Internet connections. So if your video stream suddenly drops to 480p for no reason (wired connection, no bad weather) it's probably because someone in your neighborhood decided to watch something via Comcast's streaming service.

    • Dandroid@dandroid.app
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      1 year ago

      Imagine getting downvoted for admitting you are ignorant on a subject and asking a question about it to try to get educated on said subject.

    • WasPentalive@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      There was a local ISP that was seeing its workforce trying to unionize. So they blanked and blocked any website that mentioned the union.

      Any instance where packets are treated differently due to their content violates net neutrality.

    • 4am@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      T-Mobile had plans for zero-rating preferred streaming services.

      • rhacer@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        How does this apply here? "Had plans" sounds to me like they were never implemented. If they executed on those plans that worked certainly have been an issue.

    • makeasnek@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      "Can anybody point me to specific examples where the government took away people's rights and civil liberties and it wasn't good for those people?". My god the implications of a non-neutral internet are obvious, we don't need to take those rights away in a real-world study to prove it.

      • rhacer@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Wait, rights? Civil liberties?

        I'm probably in favor of net neutrality legislation (I'm not 100% sold on the concept as the whole issue of monopolistic ISPs is a government created issue, so asking government to resolve it doesn't necessarily work for me).

        But you completely lose me when you equate Internet access with civil liberties and rights. We have no more right to an Internet than we do to an ice cream stand on the corner.