Net Neutrality, Bandwidth, Speed, Physics, Greed?

AI Thread Summary
Net neutrality is being challenged as ISPs argue that they need to throttle bandwidth due to increased demand for HD streaming and gaming. The discussion raises questions about whether tiered premium billing is justified, given that electromagnetic waves are inherently fast and abundant. Critics suggest that ISPs may be using claims of limited capacity as a pretext for monopolistic profit-taking. While ISPs must invest in additional infrastructure to meet rising bandwidth demands, the fairness of their pricing strategies is debated. Ultimately, the conversation highlights the tension between business decisions and the principles of net neutrality, with the conclusion that ISPs face market pressures to remain competitive without compromising profitability.
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Net Neutrality is being overturned as ISP telecoms claim they need to throttle bandwidth and speed as too many customers want to stream HD videos and play HD online games. EM waves are fast and unlimited, so is Tiered Premium Billing absurd? ISP telecom expenses include transmitters, receivers, routers, cables, transformers. Do they really need more equipment to give users more bandwidth and speed? Is their claim of limited capacity an excuse for monopoly profit-taking? No need to talk politics; I'm asking: How does a physicist see this telecom claim in terms of EM energy and entropy, so a student might understand?
 
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Whatever infrastructure an ISP has installed, it's capacity is not unlimited.
If there is increased demand for bandwidth, they have to install more hardware if they wish to meet that demand.
It's fair enough to argue that some ISP may be asking unreasonable prices for higher capacity users,
but then again, in most cases the user has a choice of providers, and the ISP doesn't want price themselves out of the market.
I don't see how that's anything to do with net neutrality though, it's just a business decision.
Obviously they want to retain their market share, but by making their service unprofitable for them to operate.
 
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With rootone's answer, thread is closed.
 
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