• Networking

  • ISPs slowing down internet speeds in the US

In February, Netflix reached an agreement with Comcast that allowed its ISP customers to access the streaming video service at faster speeds. Now an Internet backbone provider, Level 3, is accusing six unnamed ISPs of slowing down net traffic in an effort to get more money.
Source
Taylor believes those ISPs should be expected to offer their users a better Internet experience. However, there doesn't appear to be any incentive for them to make the needed improvements.
So ISP's care for their customers more than money ? Interesting.
The incentive should be the competition. There is an abundance of bandwidth in some places as well. A friend of mine in the US has 60MBit unlimited and if they suddenly don't like the company, they can simply switch to another one.
hussam wroteThe incentive should be the competition. There is an abundance of bandwidth in some places as well. A friend of mine in the US has 60MBit unlimited and if they suddenly don't like the company, they can simply switch to another one.
The report says "six unnamed companies" which hints to oligopoly.
If they all agree to choke the bandwidth, they will be effectively creating artificial scarcity, thus keeping prices high for the same bandwidth, sort of like what is happening in Lebanon.
It's not the smartest thing to do, and it's illegal in the States, so I doubt that's what's happening, although it's not outside the realm of what is possible. It's just a stupid thing to do, all things considered.