A timely response

And just like that, a response from senator Ron Johson's office:

Dear Brandon,

Thank you for contacting me regarding net neutrality. 

Since the Clinton administration, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had regulated the broadband industry with a light touch, allowing the Internet to flourish. Unfortunately, the Obama administration’s decision to reclassify broadband service under Title II — its misnamed “Open Internet Order” — broke with bipartisan tradition. This reclassification imposed heavy-handed utility-style regulations on internet services and led to greater government control of the Internet.  

This heavy-handed regulation has caused investment in Internet infrastructure to decline.  According to the FCC, among the nation’s 12 largest internet service providers, domestic broadband capital expenditures decreased by 5.6 percent, or $3.6 billion, between 2014 and 2016. As the new chairman of the FCC recently explained, “regulations designed for monopoly will push the market further toward monopoly.” This is not what is best for citizens of Wisconsin or the rest of the country.  

One of my top priorities is to ensure the expansion of high-speed broadband throughout Wisconsin. On May 18, 2017, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for broadband services that was a welcome development. This action restores the light-touch regulation that allowed for a free and open Internet for nearly 20 years.

Thank you again for contacting my office. It is very helpful to hear the views of the constituents I serve. Please see my website at www.ronjohnson.senate.gov for additional information. It is an honor representing you and all the people of Wisconsin.

Sincerely,

Ron Johnson
United States Senator

I used this "free and open" internet that supposedly existed for nearly 20 years. I remember Netflix performing extremely poorly on my Time Warner Cable connection due to TWC refusing to enter into any kind of peering agreement. Netflix eventually had to pay to make it happen. This effectively resulted in TWC double dipping, they charged me over $50 / mo. for a connection that was more than capable of handling an HD Netflix stream, and they charged Netflix for being able to more efficiently deliver content to TWC customers. Basically overnight my connection was "capable" of Netflix. I certainly don't see how small competitors to Netflix could ever afford to enter such an agreement, and without financial incentive, I certainly don't see TWC helping them out or otherwise improving their infrastructure to better handle the load.

During the same "free and open" period, I spent plenty of time on the phone with various ISPs arguing that I was not getting the speed I paid so exorbitantly for. The response was always the same, rated speeds are 'up to', and you are not guaranteed to ever actually receive the rated speed. Interestingly, they would always "look into it" once I complained that I'm only getting speeds that don't exceed the lower speed tiers and suggested I would like to change to a cheaper plan. Every time, speeds would return (for a while). What motivation did they have to solve my problem anyway? They knew I maybe had one other option to buy my internet access from, in some cases I had none. I fail to see how the market could be pushed "further toward monopoly". And that decrease in capital investment? The ISPs themselves don't blame net neutrality, and in many cases investment has increased.

Much like the current debate around "healthcare" has little to with healthcare and has everything to do with insurance (just because I can afford insurance does not mean I can afford healthcare, and if I can't afford healthcare, do I really have access to healthcare?), the debate around net neutrality conflates "the internet" with "internet access". I pay my ISP for the latter: a (constantly increasing) $70 / mo. for 60 Mbps for access to "the internet". That's the entire internet. Not 60 Mbps to some things, 6 Mbps to Netflix, and 1 Mbps to Facebook. And bless them, since Title II classification, I get my 60 Mbps to the entire internet almost all the time.

And what about that doctor from yesterday's rant? In the spirit of that "personal responsibility" Republicans are always prattling on about, maybe if the telemedicine isn't working I'll turn off Netflix. And if it still isn't working, maybe someone should build a better bridge.