Net Neutrality, Internet access, Media Consolidation

[Bob Schroeck]

You know, if this does go through as it looks like it might, we might still have a way around it.

Now I haven't researched this, so this may be so much hot air and pipe dreams, but... hear me out.

My wife and I, we pay about $5 a month for all our landline long distance. (And if I ever get around to it, we could set up our cellphones similarly.) That's because we get it through a little outfit called ECG Boom. (Which, come to think of it, might have been recommended to us a couple years ago by someone here in the forums.) Anyway, this works because the big telecomms can and do sell capacity on their networks in bulk to smaller operators, who are free to resell it as they see fit. ECGB buys in bulk and resells it at a minimal markup to their customers, who basically get AT&T service at rock-bottom prices. From the point of view of the local telephone company, though, we're hooked directly to ECGBoom with no other carriers in between. And if I understand how the relationship works, the carrier who sells the capacity to ECGB pays no attention to the traffic using that capacity.

Now it seems to me that it should be possible to do much the same for digital traffic -- because, really, that's what all network traffic is these days. Set up an ISP company (maybe as a not-for-profit or non-profit), buy bandwidth in bulk and sell it to individuals. We'd have to make sure that bulk sales really are exempt from choking and slow-laning before this would be worth doing, but if that is indeed the case, then we can provide a low-cost, no-constriction net connection to individuals, the telecomm carrier(s) get their profit, and everyone is happy.