Huge ISPs want per-GB payments from Netflix, YouTube

[DainBramaged]

Poor Internet providers. They have to carry all that horrible, horrible traffic from Netflix and YouTube, and they just can't afford it anymore. Unless they start charging end users 21 percent more for Internet access, or unless they're allowed to bill Internet companies at 3.7¢ per GB, the Internet could "become unusable at peak times" due to congestion.

The huge incumbent ISPs have a fairly obvious agenda for the future of the 'Net, one that involves traffic prioritization, more "managed services," and high prices, but rarely is the wish list on such prominent display as in a recent report from consultancy A.T. Kearney. Four of Europe's biggest ISPs—Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, Telecom Italia, and Telefónica—commissioned a study from the company on "A Viable Future Model for the Internet" (PDF), which involves giving lots more money to ISPs.

The basic argument is simple and well-known. The ISPs claim that they just can't afford all the investment they've been making, and that's it totally unfair that companies like Netflix get to make nice business on their pipes without paying their fair share. Yes, it's the old, tired claim about "freeriding":

Most Online Service Providers pay a fee to their Connectivity Provider(s) to be connected to the Internet, which is generally based on the bandwidth they require, while the largest ones act as if they were Connectivity Providers in their own right and connect to others via peering agreements. In both cases these charges are generally flat fees, not linked with usage and they form a very small part of their total expenditure/cost structure. In effect, Online Service Providers are paying to connect their services to the network but are not paying for downstream service delivery.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/huge-isps-want-per-gb-payments-from-netflix-youtube.ars

[walldude]

1. I have an idea...

How about we wait and see what the inventors of the internet have in store for us. Unlimited bandwidth and unlimited access are very close. Very close indeed.

That's why this mad dash for cash. Grabbing what they can when they can...

[Catherina]

2. Fuck em. Rec'd n/t

[ejpoeta]

3. they are only supposed to be the toll takers to let us on the highway. they should not

get to charge us for where we go once we are on the highway. did not we pay for these extensions when we paid for service!! that's like the thruway who was only supposed to take tolls until the project was paid for but still remains to this day even though the thruway was paid for friggin 20 years ago!

[nebenaube]

6. I agree... but your bridges keep falling down... n/t.

[Wilms]

4. What are they charging Wall Street for the internet?

I mean, they're the ones REALLY hauling in the money.

[Recursion]

5. Well, how do you suggest the ISPs pay for it? (nt)

[DainBramaged]

7. Not my job to suggest anything, I simply posted an article of interest

:shrug:


They rob enough from us every month.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

8. the way they already do

You're very much mistaken if you think national ISP's aren't charging enough to run their operations and make a profit. They are, and they do.

[LooseWilly]

9. If they don't feel like they're earning enough, they can get out of the business.

I am willing to bet that someone will be happy to buy them out.

It's never a question of whether or not they're making a profit, they're just looking for a way to make more profit... but as a form of utility (like airwaves, or highways) the economy requires that they be regulated, lest they decide to extort from the entire economy, as Enron did near a dozen years ago with electricity.

No one's forcing any of those corporations to hold onto those assets. Sell the infrastructure and the ISP business if they don't like it. (Like employees given the option to just quit if they don't like the wage being offered... ISPs can take it or leave it.)

[robinlynne]

10. I'm with you. It is a utility.

[Recursion]

12. Right, that's why Frontier bought out a lot of Verizon's lines last year

And Frontier is having trouble operating them at a profit too (the savings they thought they could find weren't there).

[ixion]

11. This is a prime example of why it was a bad idea to allow large companies to monopolize

the internet.