On October 22, 2009, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) stated that it will begin consideration of network neutrality rules that would apply to wireless networks. Before then, wireless networks had been exempt from the already established principles for broadband carriers. These principles are the following:1. Consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice;
2. Consumers are entitled to run applications and services of their choice, subject to eh needs of law enforcement;
3. Consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network;
4. Consumers are entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers.
The current strategy used by nearly all wireless providers directly contradicts a number of these principles. Thus quite a heated debate has begun and continues as to whether such, or similar, rules shall be adopted.
From the perspective of an Internet user, there are both pros and cons to such an adaptation. Currently, wireless providers have formed an artificial shortage given stringent network requirements for specific carriers. Granted some carriers, such as at&t vs Verizon operate at different mobile standards (GSM and CDMA respectively.) Regardless, many carriers such as Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile all share similar protocols, yet do not allow for shared network access by users.
Reasons for such tactics are quite obvious - given contract requirements, data usage plans, etc. a single carrier may increase revenue while forcing their customers to use their network only. In using such a model consumers are not being entitled the right to connect their choice of legal device to a network - instead consumers are being told that they may only select a specific group of devices.
If instead carriers were open to any consumer, no specific network required, the ready availability to Internet access of some kind would be much more available - for instance in rural areas where often only only a single wireless carrier prevails.
Another object of debate is that of data used. Currently, cell phone providers have the ability to block or slow down the speed of specific applications at their digression. If wireless networks were unable to block such applications, greater bandwidth would be used for such applications as Internet calling and video streaming. Cellular networks do not want this, for it would inherently slow Internet speeds for everyone in a specific area that is near a specific individual that downloads huge amounts of data continuously.
Therefore, networks would be forced to completely redesign their data plans. No longer could their be an "unlimited data" package, but instead networks would have to charge people by the byte used - regardless of for what purpose.
I feel as though such restructuralization would be a good thing. On paper it may seem that you would end up spending more money, but if your data usage rates are about the current average for others on your network, then I would expect very little change. But, if you were someone that uses huge amounts of data continuously, you would be charged with some very large bills - probably resulting in less extraneous usage.
The debate obviously has both pro's and con's, but from a betterment of humanity viewpoint - I feel that net neutrality would result in much greater strides in Internet communication. In wireless networks, there are often limitations due not to cellular device technologies, but instead the network of which the device is on. For example, the iPhone has an application that would allow streaming of home video anywhere with Internet access (wifi or 3g provided by at&t). Yet this application cannot be used on the 3g network for at&t cannot handle the bandwidth constrains given the multitude of iphone users. Yet Blackberry users have a similar application on at&t, which they have the choice and may use on 3g. Such discrepancies are choices I feel the user should be making, not the carrier.
If I want access to a particular technology that exists, and am willing to pay for it, then I should be allowed to use that technology. Carriers should just adjust prices accordingly to ensure overall stability of network infrastructure.
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