Verizon Wireless: Scrap Network Neutrality
from the who-needs-rules dept
A Verizon Wireless exec told a House committee hearing on the telecom reform bill that network neutrality provisions shouldn't apply to wireless carriers, because, well, just because, really. The exec contends that wireless operators should "have the right to manage their network and the devices that can be used with that network" -- which sounds like an open-ended way of saying they should be able to decide what content and services people using their network access. "Network management" will become a euphemism for "content blocking", with financial considerations, not technical ones, driving the decisions. If carriers are going to advertise unlimited service, they need to sell open, unlimited service, not not pretend there aren't capacity constraints, then hide restrictions in fine print and selectively block services that compete with their own. There's not much point in the operators trying to hide their sentiments, as it's pretty clear they'll go to drastic measures to get what they want. If there were real competition in the market, these types of regulations wouldn't be necessary, because any provider that started blocking applications would get destroyed by consumers. But when there isn't any real competition, the market doesn't do a great job of regulating itself.
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No Competition?!?!
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Re: No Competition?!?!
Hopefully some of the new MVNOs will add *real* competition to the space, but I'm not holding my breath.
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Re: No Competition?!?!
Cellular carriers as a whole are attempting a monopoly on the business. They are trying to shut down and restrict third party sites unless they are under their control, that's the point i think he was trying to make. I buy unlocked phones since i can use a lot more applications and features unrestricted like the opera mini web browser which works for pretty much every phone now except of course those on verizon because they use stupid BREW instead of Java. VZW has problems, and users wanting flexible use of their technology the way it was designed to be will continue to leave them. I even ate the early termination fee to rid myself of them.
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Its a pity
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No Subject Given
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I don't really object to this
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No Subject Given
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Verizon Wireless
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