[governance] Not Network Neutrality: Bandwidth pricing is the

[Garth Graham]

On 15-Apr-08, at 1:54 PM, Milton L Mueller wrote:
> The only way out of that dilemma is for customers to wise up and  
> realize
> that you don't get something for nothing. Customers will need to learn
> to perceive the difference between a good service that costs a bit  
> more
> and a shared flat-rate service that keeps them waiting.

If only!  I am willing to pay a lot more for "good service" (which  
ipso facto includes net neutrality) if it were available to me.  But  
it's not (and I live in an urban area of 450,000 people).  And, in  
Canada, with only 4 prime carriers now being de-regulated in favour  
of "market-based approaches," it isn't going to be.  In the name of  
"customer service," they are going to throttle bandwidth use to avoid  
building adequate capacity into the last mile.  As citizens (not  
customers), it's way past time to "demand" public policy that  
supports municipal ownership of open networks as a commons-based  
public utility.

GG

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