BellSouth is in negotiations with content providers to charge them to “preferential” routing to their customers. Basically, it’s extortion. You pay me, I’ll make sure your content gets where it needs to go. You don’t pay me, well, your content will get where it needs to go. Eventually. As the CEO of Verizon says, “We need to pay for the pipe.” Excuse me, the customers pay for the pipe. You advertise I can download movies and music and pictures at lightning speed, but don’t want to hold up your end of the bargain and actually provide content you don’t own.
In a nutshell, BellSouth (and other telco and cable companies) want to charge their customers for Internet access and charge companies for providing the content. I pay to go online, and I also pay for hosting this website. If you ask me, this feels like some unfair competition. I can only hope that the government will see this for what it is and not allow it to happen.
(On a side note, I use Lunarpages, and get 400 GB transfer for $7.95/month. If I were to pay similar rates for Roadrunner ($45/month, I would get over 2 TB transfer. Lunarpages has been fantastic these last couple years. I’ll be more than happy to refer you if you’re interested in hosting your own site.)
But wait! Our government is run by special interests. Those who have the money get to decide what happens around here. Who cares about the little guy?
bastone.org 
2 replies on “Two-Tiered Internet?”
i care about the little guy…that’s why i’m suffering through law school. i’m doing this because of the state of current government. but sadly, now that the time to find a job is getting closer, i’m looking more and more at government jobs, cause they pay well. change can come from the inside though, right?
I would be willing to accept some change (for the better!) any which way. Inside, outside, somewhere in between, it’s all good.