TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Why I am Opposed to Net Neutrality

Re: Why I am Opposed to Net Neutrality

Scott Dorsey (kludge@panix.com)
17 Aug 2006 08:35:17 -0400

Larry Dignan wrote:

> 3. All traffic isn't created equal. An e-mail doesn't have the same
> service requirements as a VOIP call. An X-ray of a heart patient
> should have priority over a Britney Spears video. Corporate networks
> manage traffic that way, and at some point there has to be some
> intelligence added to public Internet infrastructure between the end
> points. Net neutrality requirements mean all traffic is created
> equal. You can debate over who makes the call over what traffic gets
> priority, but to pretend all traffic is equal doesn't hold up.

When you do this, what you have isn't the internet any more.

The beauty and the failing of the net is that everyone is equal and every
device is treated like every other device. Unfortunately this is not a good
thing to carry realtime data.

There have been attempts to do what you describe with QoS management,
where some kinds of traffic gets treated differently than other kinds
of traffic. In general, these things don't work very well, because
the underlying protocol isn't designed for it.

If you want a largescale nationwide network to handle realtime data
like VOIP, video traffic, and high resolution X-rays at the same time,
it ought to be built very differently than the Internet. Because the
Internet just isn't built for that. Sorry.

--scott

"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

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