As Expected, Bill Introduced To Outlaw Tiered Bandwidth Pricing

from the this-won't-go-far dept

As was widely expected, Rep. Eric Massa has introduced a bill that would outlaw metered billing and create a bunch of other regulatory hoops ISPs need to jump through on pricing plans. We're no fans of metered broadband by any stretch of the imagination. It stifles innovation and limits the usefulness of the internet. Contrary to what some broadband providers will claim, it's not at all necessary and has nothing to do with preventing the network from being overrun or to stop part-time users from "subsidizing" everyone else. The Broadband Reports link above walks through how silly each of those arguments are. It also explains why this is a pure money grab. Flat-rate pricing has been quite profitable for the providers, but they want more. Note that nowhere in these usage plans do they talk about cheaper tiers. Beyond just being about a straight money grab, part of the desire is to use this to reduce competition for online video by making it more expensive for anyone other than the ISP to deliver video services.

That said... this bill seems laughable and is unlikely to go anywhere. The real issue here (as it has been all along) is the lack of meaningful competition in the broadband space. Get meaningful competition into the market, and this whole issue goes away. But that's not what Massa's bill does. It just adds regulatory burdens to ISPs without doing much to get at the root of the issue.

Filed Under: broadband, broadband caps, eric massa, metered broadband

Law To Ban Broadband Caps Moves Forward

from the not-the-best-solution... dept

We've already noted that NY Congressman Eric Massa believes broadband caps raise First Amendment issues, though we have trouble understanding exactly what those issues are. We're not fans of the caps by any stretch of the imagination -- and, in fact, think that they're bad for innovation and bad for everyone (including the broadband providers implementing them). However, that doesn't make them First Amendment issues. Still, Massa seems committed to introducing new regulations against caps, which may be as misguided as the caps themselves. The real issue shouldn't be whether or not the caps exist; it should be how we can enable more competition in the broadband space, such that caps are no longer an issue. Massa claims his bill will "seek to increase competition among broadband providers," but didn't provide any explanation of what that actually meant. It would be great to see more competition, but it seems unlikely that what's being cooked up here will do the trick.

Filed Under: broadband, broadband caps, competition, eric massa, regulations