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Portugal's Internet Shows us a World Without Net Neutrality -- It's Ugly

posted by martyb on Tuesday November 28 2017, @04:15PM   
from the would-you-like-YouTube^WNetflix^WFacebook^WAmazon-with-that? dept.

canopic jug writes:

Michael Hiltzik at the Los Angeles Times writes about Portugal's Internet which shows us a world without net neutrality, and it's ugly. Basically, tiered services get in there through a loophole for zero-rating.

After paying a fee for basic service, subscribers can add any of five further options for about $6 per month, allowing an additional 10GB data allotment for the apps within the options: a "messaging" tier, which covers such services as instant messaging, Apple FaceTime, and Skype; "social," with liberal access to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and so on; "video" (youTube, Netflix, etc.); "email and cloud" (Gmail, Apple's iCloud); or "music" (Spotify, Pandora).

Portugal isn't the only country allowing tiering of internet services. In Britain, the internet service provider Vodaphone charges about $33 a month for basic service but offers several "passes" allowing unlimited video or music streaming, social media usage, or chat, at additional tariffs of up to $9.30 per month. [Ed's Note: This is not entirely accurate - Vodaphone's ISP home broadband offering (17Mbps) is £24/month unlimited usage, the additional figures quoted are for faster fiber connections (38 and 76 Mbps) where available. How you use your connection is irrelevant. This is the same for many European ISPs. Smart phone costs are entirely separate.]

Although both countries are part of the European Union, which has an explicit commitment to network neutrality, these arrangements are allowed under provisions giving national regulators some flexibility. These regulators can open loopholes permitting "zero-rating," through which ISPs can exclude certain services from data caps. That's what the Portuguese and British ISPs essentially are doing.

If the vote on the 14^th of December repeals Net Neutrality then consumer options will be greatly reduced while increasing greatly in prices as we can see from Portugal's example.

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Original Submission

• Re:I don't see the problem here (Score: 5, Informative) by meustrus on Tuesday November 28 2017, @06:04PM

  by meustrus (4961) on Tuesday November 28 2017, @06:04PM (#602601)

  "It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see..."
  "You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"
  "No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
  "Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."
  "I did," said Ford. "It is."
  "So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't people get rid of the lizards?"
  "It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."
  "You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
  "Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
  "But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"
  "Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?"
  "What?"
  "I said," said Ford, with an increasing air of urgency creeping into his voice, "have you got any gin?"
  "I'll look. Tell me about the lizards."
  Ford shrugged again.
  "Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happenned to them," he said. "They're completely wrong of course, completely and utterly wrong, but someone's got to say it."
  "But that's terrible," said Arthur.
  "Listen, bud," said Ford, "if I had one Altairian dollar for every time I heard one bit of the Universe look at another bit of the Universe and say 'That's terrible' I wouldn't be sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin."

  ― Douglas Adams, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish [goodreads.com]

  --
  If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?

  Parent

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