The Debate Over Net Neutrality Has Its Roots in the Fight Over Radio Freedom

By Clive Thompson – The idea of transmitting sound waves through the air caught on especially after the experiments of the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi [2, 3, 4, 5, 6] in the late 19th century.

With relatively small amounts of power, someone at home could broadcast for dozens of miles. Magazines printed schematics. “Any boy can own a real wireless station, if he really wants to,” urged The Book of Wireless.

The early amateurs had no fixed schedules. They’d broadcast a song—and then go silent for minutes, even hours, because they had nothing else lined up.

At first, the idea of making money off radio seemed profane.

This attitude did not last, however. By the mid-1920s, larger and more professional stations and networks, such as AT&T’s National Broadcasting System, were emerging. They realized advertising could be a gold mine. On August 29, 1922, the large Manhattan station WEAF ran one of the world’s first radio ads. more> http://tinyurl.com/krta3q7

Financialization in telecom

By George Mattathil – With all these things going on, one would think that there would be an earnest effort to find out what is wrong.

Instead, the preoccupation in the media and industry is with “net neutrality” confusion, which the FCC Chairman summed up: “the idea of net neutrality has been discussed for a decade with no lasting results.” more> http://wp.me/p4erPG-5j

The Development of Fixed Broadband Networks

OECD – Content delivery and cloud computing platforms optimize the delivery of content and services across the network. The Internet was designed as an end-to-end network that provided two-way transport between devices and their users at the edge of the network. CDNs are optimized for one-way distribution of video, images, and other content from large content providers such as Netflix or the BBC’s iPlayer to individual users.

Cloud computing is designed to move the computing and storage functionality of the end-user device into the network.

All fixed communications networks share basic economic characteristics. The first is high fixed costs (capital expenditures), both in absolute terms and relative to variable costs (operational expenditures). The numbers vary based on technology and the scale of the network. Under any conditions, though, running a wire into each residence, and linking those last-mile connections through a wired distribution network, is a costly endeavor. In addition to direct expenses, the necessity of digging up streets, gaining access to telephone poles or conduit space, and gaining physical access to homes is a significant burden. more> http://tinyurl.com/lesfj7a

Internet Fast and Slow Lanes

By George Mattathil – Now the economics regarding retail and whole connections. The cost involved in the retail connection is on a per subscriber basis. But the cost of wholesale connections is distributed over all the potential users of the wholesale connection. So wholesale connection is very cost effective, while the retail connections are very cost sensitive.

About performance, which is what the “fast lane” and “slow lane” controversy is about. Depending on the technology, the performance (peak speed, sustained speed, average speed) vary widely. more> http://wp.me/p4erPG-3T

An Internet Transit Map

By George Mattathil – To help clarify the issues, I created an Internet Transit Map. The Internet Transit Map is a simplified logical diagram (“reference model”) of the Internet to provide clarity for discussions about regulating the Internet. more> http://t.co/VQXbKnCLm1