Important!!! Net Neutrality day in the U.S.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. You could not be more wrong.

There are millions of people that are still getting their broadband via cable/FiOS, but are cord cutting, because they cut their TV "subscription". Instead, they're getting content from Hulu, Netflix, Roku, Fire, Kodi, etc.

Just ask Tivo if they're impacted by "Cord Cutting". Cord Cutting eliminates subscription requirements to the providers, by eliminating either proprietary IP TV or services provided through CableCard.

 

Just as stupid.

You may as well say you want to find a magic unicorn.

 

Again I ask you which mystical magical fuckin fairy is providing the connection to the internet. Unless you are telling the Cable company to take it's DOCSIS modem with them when they disconnect your TV service you ain't cutting shit. All you are doing is giving up the traditional cable TV model. You are aware the industry in which I work correct? I know the pricing models of the ISP's that run our middleware platform to deliver content to customers. TV is not where they make their money.

 

The problem is that technically, they already are, and already have been, and should be. Different types of traffic have different performance requirements. Example: Email is very spiky, and for the record, consumes a TON of bandwidth across pipelines. However, email doesn't require a high QoS from a network perspective, because minor throttling doesn't harm it at all. It's imperceptible. However, VoIP requires high QoS (low latency and low dropped packets) because you can't use packet retry to get the data to the destination, and latency destroys the conversation. So, why in the world would a provider not charge more for bandwidth being used by VoIP than for email? Now extend that argument to the different traffic types being used by different "sources" (or insert websites, etc)? Net Neutrality forces them both to be treated the same, which means that the providers aren't allowed to charge different, so they have to apply the same QoS - which means higher cost for them - and higher cost for you. And it means less capacity being available.

Just one of a ton of reasons this "rule set" was stupid, and why the comparisons I see being thrown around are stupid.

Oh, and BTW here's a further clarification.

An email provider can be perfectly happy with (just as an example) a 800Mb/s connection with 100ms latency.

A VoIP provider only needing 800Mb/s (again just as an example in theory) would not be able to survive if their backbone or gateway had 100ms latency.

Same "bandwidth" requirement. Same amount of data. But different latency requirement. But Net Neutrality required them to be treated the same, and priced the same.

That's not the slightest bit different from forcing Yamaha to sell their cheapest liter bike and the R1M for the same exact price.

 

I don't give a flying crap what industry you claim to be in. And if you want to get in a pissing war about which of us has more experience, give me a PM. I'm WAY more than ready.

Cord cutting IS EXACTLY about giving up the traditional cable TV model. Don't be a dumb ass. I agree with you that the consumer is still tied to some provider no matter what. Nobody is arguing about that. They're getting it from cable/fiber, copper, or wireless. Yeah, there's a small tick of sat out there, but at the current time, it's either cable, Fios, xDSL, or LTE.

And if you think from a market perspective you "ain't cutting shit" if you discontinue TV subscription but retain internet, you're completely friggin clueless. That area is one of the most rapidly changing markets in the entertainment industry. It's affecting marketing, advertisement, subscription services, and even hardware manufacturing and sales. It has forced the major networks to stand up IP based delivery - which they pushed back against for as long as they could. I'm not saying it's all good or all bad, but it's for absolutely sure different.

 

Condescending pricks can’t chill.

 

Cord cutting has a specific industry standard meaning. I also completely disagree that most cord cutters think they're "removing all ties". I'm pretty sure they're aware they're paying a bill for internet service.

 

The only thing dying in all of this is the traditional cable TV bundling model. That's it. The same companies that were making money licensing content are still licensing content. Yes there are some new sources of content with Netflix producing it's own shows. The same folks throwing money at advertising are still throwing money at advertising. It's still shit nobody wants. It can still be readily injected to annoy the end user.

From a service provider perspective having people move to devices such as the Roku, Firestick or a Kodi install on a PC means they can get out of the hardware business. All the ISP's running our middleware platform couldn't be happier to not be buying new set top boxes from the likes of Amino, Entone. ADB or any of the other manufacturers. It's money out of their pocket in both hardware costs and the costs the manage, deploy and service. They are happy you can go get a retail device to consume the content they are delivering to you. This of course does not make companies like Amino happy as they had a good deal going providing barely adequate for the job hardware at top flight prices because well where else are you going to go. They are now being squeezed on price.

Those same ISP are still however in a very hostile relationship with the content vendors and that is only getting worse as the 2 largest ISP's in the country are allowed to buy content companies. You think Comcast isn't going to use its control of NBC Universal to extract top dollar from ISPs that aren't Comcast? You think Comcast isn't going to hold Netflix hostage to higher pricing to deliver their content or limit the amount the end user can consume without spending more money while exempting NBC Universal from the imposed caps. I think that is the real issue at the heart of why their should be some regulation. I see nothing wrong with Comcast charging Netflix to transport the content. I do however see an issue with Comcast owning content and being able to use that a leverage against other content providers. Content providers are impacted by the folks dropping TV in that their bargaining power is diminished to some degree but the ISP transporting that content isn't really hurt by folks "cord cutting" activities.

As I see it the "Cord Cutting" phrase is stupid as you are still being delivered content from the same folks creating it plus a few new sources, via different delivery mechanisms, provided by the same service providers, to slightly different consumption devices. I don't see much other than that really changing. Sure the numbers are moving around a bit but that's about it.

One of the dumbest things I have heard recently was a neighbor spouting about how they had cut the cord and dropped Dish in favor of this new service called Sling. It took a good couple minutes to stop laughing and you'd think I had just killed their first child when I asked them if they knew who owned Sling. My point is most people don't get it and they throw the "cord cutting" term around like they have really caused a massive shift in the television industry and the truth is they really haven't.

 

I've always refused to bundle. I tend to forget that it's not the norm anymore.
I have one guy for TV, one for phone/Internet, and I play them against each other for discounts at renewal time. But my primary reason for doing that this to minimize the chances of both services being down at any time.

 

Well in this case I was more specifically referring to the practice of channel bundling but yes...the triple play service bundling has never been a good idea in my opinion. It's too many eggs in one basket for me. Even if the eggs are a bit cheaper that way.

 

You're not going to try to tell me that my Cloud resides in a fancy warehouse in VA, are you?

 

I don't know where your cloud resides. Mine is a floor down and about 50 ft away from where I am sitting.

 

This is a fascinating discussion, btw, and very entertaining to see the geek equivalent of Bum Fights, but could you internet geniuses please learn how to use the quote function?
It takes five minutes to decipher who is saying what to whom.