Network neutrality

Network neutrality is a regulatory concept for telecommunications providers, which requires them to provide the same services, at the same price, regardless of source or destination. It does not forbid traffic engineering or security procedures that protect the network infrastructure, but it does prevent, for example, a cable service provider charging more to a competing content provider than a content provider owned by the same company as the connectivity provider. A telecommunications provider that sells deregulated telephone service, under network neutrality, could not block or degrade a competitive voice over Internet Protocol service.

Real-world networks are not designed to provide maximum bandwidth, at all times, to all users. Unquestionably, there is constant innovation in Internet-enabled services. Early ISPs engineered for electronic mail, Telnet and file transfer were overwhelmed by graphics-intensive Web traffic. University campus networks built to handle web traffic loads sometimes found they were unable to support their primary teaching and research methods, due to large volumes of music and video downloads by students.

Under network neutrality, a provider could impose traffic limits, which could not discriminate as to source and destination, and generally would be assumed to be stated in the customer contract.

Opponents to network neutrality include those who want, ideologically, minimal government regulation of the marketplace. They assert that innovation is greatest in an unregulated market. Some diversified firms, which own both content providers such as pay-per-view television and cable TV distribution, say they would not have made the capital investment on the distribution network had they not expected to see return on providing content.

Proponents of network neutrality argue that differential pricing, and blocking by service type (e.g., peer-to-peer network or VoIP) rather than bandwidth, discriminate against innovation by alternative service providers and prevent lowering of costs through competition.

Most large service and content providers are on record as opposing network neutrality, although some firms have modified their positions. AT&T, for example, no longer discriminates against third-party VoIP on its wireless network. The industry says this is self-policing; opponents say that it was done only due to the threat of regulation.