The Federal Communications Commission is set to vote Thursday on whether to reinstate rules that would prevent internet service providers from disrupting your internet speed.
If approved, the vote would restore net neutrality – a policy that ensures your internet service provider doesn’t block or slow legal traffic, or charge more to deliver some content more quickly.
The commission voted in October by a vote of 3-2 to advance the proposal that would reinstate net neutrality rules and once again give it regulatory oversight of broadband internet, which had been rescinded under former President Donald Trump.
Reinstating the rules has been a focus for President Joe Biden, who signed a July 2021 executive order urging the FCC to restore net neutrality rules put in place under President Barack Obama, according to Reuters.
Democrats were unable to make those changes during the time they lacked a majority on the five-member FCC but that balance changed in October, Reuters said.
During the Trump administration, the commission argued that net neutrality rules dampened innovation and discouraged internet service providers from putting money into the network.
Net neutrality definition
Net neutrality is the belief that an internet service provider, or ISP, should give all consumers fair and equal access to legal content and applications. Providers should not favor some, or block others and charge content providers for speedier delivery of their content on “fast lanes,” and deliberately slow down content from content providers that compete with ISPs.
Years ago, the hot-button issue even made for a popular segment on John Oliver’s show “Last Week Tonight,” where he urged people to visit the FCC’s website to comment on the issue, which generated millions of comments.
When was net neutrality repealed?
Net neutrality was repealed in December 2017.
Then FCC Chair Ajit Pai said the repeal would help more Americans get high-speed internet access, as companies would spend more on building networks “without the overhang of heavy-handed regulation” and this would create jobs.
Net neutrality pros and cons
The FCC argues there are a number of benefits for consumers – the openness establishes basic rules for ISPs so they don’t block legal content, throttle speeds and create “fast lanes” for people who can pay for it.
Reclassifying broadband under Title II allows the FCC to apply cybersecurity standards, and will require ISPsto notify the FCC and consumers of internet outages.
Advocates and experts also say net neutrality is positive for consumers.
“It protects consumers from ISPs controlling what you see,” said Chris Lewis, president and chief executive officer at Public Knowledge. “Broadband is an essential communications tool, so we need the rules to be fair.”
Can net neutrality rules affect prices?
Possibly.
Lewis gives the example of streaming services, which create their own websites and apps to access the internet and reach the consumer. While these sites already pay for internet access, broadband providers want to charge an additional user fee that is passed on to consumers, he said.
“With net neutrality, that fee is prohibited. The savings are indirect, but they’re real,” he said.
Is net neutrality important for the internet infrastructure?
Mallory Knodel, chief technology officer of the Center for Democracy and Technology, has said old broadband network wires need replacing and ISPs haven’t done a great job maintaining the infrastructure or building it out in an equitable way.
It has led to a “dirt road effect,” she said, where low-income subscribers end up with deprioritized traffic or a nonfunctional internet.
With broadband infrastructure needing a lot of work, can net neutrality help?
“Only abstractly,” Knodel said. “If net neutrality prevents profit-making off of preferential treatment and innovation in traffic shaping, then perhaps it follows that they would put efforts elsewhere, namely into maintenance and building out of the network. I’m any case, the latter has far greater benefits to consumers.”
The argument against net neutrality
The Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members include Amazon, Apple, Alphabet and Meta Platforms support net neutrality, previously saying that the policy “must be reinstated to preserve open access to the internet.”
Meanwhile, USTelecom, whose members include AT&T and Verizon, have said restoring net neutrality is “entirely counterproductive, unnecessary, and an anti-consumer regulatory distraction.”
In 2018, Verizon was accused of throttling Santa Clara County’s unlimited data during the Mendocino wildfires, disrupting their ability to coordinate until they upgraded to an expensive service plan. It resulted in a lawsuit showing the effects of the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality rules.
When browsing:What is a good internet speed?
At the time, a Verizon spokesperson told USA TODAY that the issue was not related to net neutrality court proceedings, but was due to a customer service error, and that Verizon had a practice for removing data restrictions during emergency situations.
Not everyone at the FCC has been on board with the decision. Commissioner Brendan Carr said the Title II reclassification increases government power over the internet and will only increase prices for consumers who have seen their utility prices increase with inflation.
“The American people want more freedom on the Internet − not greater government controls over their online lives,” he said in a prepared statement.
Contributing: Reuters
Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at blinfisher@USATODAY.com or follow her on X, Facebook or Instagram @blinfisher. Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, which will include consumer news on Fridays, here.
