Comcast and Net Neutrality Policy Debate

Comcast, one of the largest internet service providers in the US, has been at the center of the net neutrality policy debate. Comcast has a history of prioritizing its own content and services over others, which has led to accusations of unfair business practices.

In 2007, Comcast was found to be secretly throttling BitTorrent traffic, a peer-to-peer file-sharing service. This was a major blow to net neutrality advocates who argued that Comcast was unfairly slowing down certain types of internet traffic.

Comcast has since claimed that it has stopped throttling BitTorrent traffic, but concerns about its business practices remain. The company has also been accused of engaging in "paid prioritization", where it gives preferential treatment to certain internet services in exchange for payment.

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Comcast's Open Internet Policy is a bit of a mixed bag. They claim to support net neutrality, but their actions don't always align with their words.

Comcast has a policy in place that prohibits them from blocking or throttling internet traffic. This means they can't slow down or speed up your connection to certain websites or services.

However, Comcast does have a "managed" internet plan that prioritizes their own streaming service, Xfinity Stream, over other online traffic. This can lead to slower speeds for users who don't subscribe to Xfinity Stream.

Comcast also has a "data caps" policy, which limits the amount of data you can use each month. If you go over your limit, you'll be charged extra fees.

Suggestion: Data Cap

Comcast's business model relies heavily on paid interconnection, which allows them to charge other companies for access to their network. This model is at the center of the net neutrality debate.

Comcast's paid interconnection model was challenged in 2014 when Netflix, a major internet content provider, complained about Comcast's high interconnection fees. The fees were so high that they threatened to slow down Netflix's video streaming service.

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Comcast's paid interconnection model was challenged in 2014 when Netflix, a major internet content provider, complained about Comcast's high interconnection fees. The fees were so high that they threatened to slow down Netflix's video streaming service.

In 2014, Comcast was fined $800,000 by the FCC for violating net neutrality principles by throttling internet traffic. This fine was a result of Comcast's paid interconnection model.

Comcast's paid interconnection model has been criticized for creating a two-tiered internet system, where companies that pay for faster access get priority over those that don't. This can lead to unequal access to internet services.

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Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer was quick to challenge Comcast's assertions in court.

Comcast's claims of getting a free ride from Cogent are unfounded, according to Schaeffer. They do not meet Cogent's requirements for free peering, yet Cogent still peers with them.

Comcast's court filing is "totally silent on how they get connectivity to the rest of the world", Schaeffer pointed out. They claim to have built out a US network but make no claim of an international network.

Paying Comcast for interconnection can ensure better performance for edge providers, but it comes with a higher price per megabit. Interconnection with Comcast only provides a path to Comcast's customers, not the rest of the Internet.

Some edge providers purchase interconnection from Comcast because they're afraid of not being able to reach Comcast customers otherwise. This is a result of Comcast's market power and ability to hold customers hostage.

Comcast's upgrades to their network are often slow, resulting in congestion between their network and Cogent's. This is especially true when bandwidth needs to increase.

However, after California passed its net neutrality law, Comcast began to upgrade their network more quickly. They accelerated these upgrades nationwide, not just in California.

Suggestion: Comcast Xfinity California

The big four ISPs - Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast - control about 76 percent of internet subscribers in the United States.

The FCC's decision to repeal net neutrality has sparked a lot of debate, but the ISPs claim they support net neutrality and that the ruling won't change how they operate.

Comcast's Senior Vice President David L. Cohen argued that the Obama-era FCC's decision to reclassify ISPs as utilities was an act of regulatory overreach, and that Congress should enact such protections legislatively instead.

Verizon's spokesman Rich Young stated that Verizon fully supports the open Internet and will continue to do so, citing that their customers demand it and their business depends on it.

The ISPs' claims of supporting net neutrality seem to be at odds with the fact that they spent $110 million lobbying against net neutrality in 2017 alone.

For another approach, see: Verizon Net Emails

The Circuit Court Ruling was a significant setback for the FCC. The court held that the FCC failed to argue convincingly that its sanction against Comcast could be justified as part of the ancillary jurisdiction allowed under the 1934 Communications Act.

The court relied on a two-part test for ancillary authority, which is laid out in the precedent American Library Association v. FCC. This test requires that the Commission's general jurisdictional granted under Title I of the Communications Act covers the regulated subject and the regulations are reasonably ancillary to the Commission's effective performance of its statutorily mandated responsibilities.

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Comcast conceded that the FCC satisfied the first prong of this test, but the court ruled that the FCC failed to satisfy the second prong. The FCC couldn't show that its action of barring Comcast from interfering with its customers' use of particular web services was reasonably ancillary to the effective performance of its statutorily-mandated authority.

The FCC relied on a Congressional statement of policy and various provisions of the Communications Act, but the court found that neither of these created "statutorily mandated responsibilities." This was a key point in the court's decision, as it would have given the FCC unbounded authority to impose regulations on Internet service providers.

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Verizon fully supports the open Internet, and they will continue to do so, according to a statement from Rich Young, their spokesman.

The big four ISPs, which include Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, and others, have about 76 percent of the 94.5 million internet subscribers in the United States.

Verizon's statement reiterates a key tenet of Pai's justification for his plan: consumers demand net neutrality, so therefore the free market will incentivize ISPs to maintain it even in the absence of regulations.

AT&T echoed many of Comcast's points in a statement on its Public Policy site, which is included in its entirety.

The ISPs argue that the Obama-era FCC's 2015 decision to reclassify ISPs as utilities instead of content providers was an act of regulatory overreach.

Comcast Senior Vice President David L. Cohen laid out this case in a post titled “It’s Time For Congress to Act and Permanently Preserve the Open Internet.”

The ISPs were not mere spectators in the regulatory ping pong game, and they have a significant role in lobbying for the ruling that killed net neutrality.

Anti-net neutrality lobbying has totaled $110 million in 2017 alone, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

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