Back in February we reported on the debate surrounding Net Neutrality. On June 14th, a Federal appeals court elected to uphold the ruling to regulate ISPs in a 2-1 vote. This is a significant victory for regulators who passed a ruling in February to impose strict guidelines on Internet Service Providers such as Comcast. That ruling allowed the FCC to classify ISPs as utilities and barred them from dictating internet speeds for specific web pages. Net Neutrality is the idea that everything on the internet should be treated equally. However, Internet Service Providers like AT&T and Verizon argue that they deserve the right to control internet streaming speeds for specific sites. For example, Netflix represents a majority of the streaming that occurs on the internet, so ISPs feel that Netflix should be required to pay more to use their services. Proponents of Net Neutrality fear that if ISPs can pick and choose which sites they show and at what speed, they will be able to dictate what people see on the internet. It is likely that major Internet and Cable providers will continue to fight the rulings.
For VoIP providers like us Net Neutrality is crucial since we rely on it for our audio streaming. For a more in-depth look at the decision made Tuesday click here.
If you want a better understanding of what Net Neutrality really is, check out this video.
