Net neutrality: Throttled or Fast internet in the USA?

Almost all of the wireless cell phone service providers in the USA are facing throttled internet, according to research from Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Northeastern.

Researchers discovered that slows speed internet is prevalent across all of the video streaming apps. The wireless cell providers often slow-down one app for the customers while the other apps work perfectly fine - which is against the net neutrality law, as it requires the ISPs to offer connectivity without blocking or throttling specific website. In the Obama era, US citizens demanded Net neutrality be applied to all of the online content.

The Federal Communications Commission repealed for the net neutrality in 2017.  Some big tech groups like Facebook and Amazon voted for the law. The neutrality rule was revised and finally nullified in June 2018, though users faced the throttling of selected apps.

The research is taking place in the leadership of David Choffnes, a computer science professor at Northeastern and the reports are still unpublished. In 2015, when FCC ordered net neutrality principles, Choffnes’ team started testing out different wireless cell carriers to check out when they violate the law. The team analyzed 161 different countries to gather results. They discovered how often cell providers offer slow connectivity to the users and what type of app and websites have to face throttling most often.

Choffnes stated to the Northeastern news blog that users could face throttled connectivity anytime - streaming of videos faces break-down even when the network doesn’t require it. Moreover, it occurs twenty-four hours and seven days a week in different tested areas of the U.S.

Internet service providers (ISPs) claimed that they slow the internet only in some instances, especially when there is lots of traffic. Though, Chogffnes discovered that ISPs cause the slow-down even if the network pathway is clear. Different customers face throttling at varying speeds while using the internet. Some get slower internet than the others based on the type of data plans they’ve subscribed to.

Choffnes analyzed most of the wireless carriers of USA. According to his findings some of home internet providers in the USA such as AT&T throttle YouTube, Netflix, and NBC Sports. Likewise, T-Mobile and Sprint throttle the video streaming of YouTube and Amazon. He stated that the complete report covers all data regarding the change in speed after the net neutrality rule was abolished. The complete report has not been advertised though.

“I’m not sure that the interesting question is how much it increased, but rather what exactly is getting throttled, how the carriers are doing it, what might be the impact on applications, and are any of these practices anti-competitive,” Choffnes stated to GeekWire.

Different home internet providers, e.g., AT&T, Verizon, DIRECTV Charter, and Xfinity defend themselves and declare that the slowdown is temporary. There’s always a definite reason why users have to face it. The claim is false that the death of net neutrality causes the slow-down in speed. The providers proclaim that customers choose the wrong providers who produce a spotty connection. The wrong choice of internet plan also causes average speeds. You can check for information on services of top digital service providers at sites such as homeinternetproviders.com. Such websites offer complete and accurate information at a single place, so users don’t have to travel from one webpage to another in search of relevant data. Comparing and analyzing services and costs from different service providers enables users to make an informed decision.

Moreover, sometimes users choose the providers offering limited data cap. Hence, the break-down of speed occurs due to limited bandwidth. The customers can complain about unnecessary changes in their broadband speed. The users can visit the official website of homeinterproviderts.com or call them on their toll-free number and demand the high speed.

As Charter stated it clearly, “Without the regulatory overhang of these rules, however, businesses like ours will have the certainty they need to make infrastructure investments over the long-term, helping more people get online and enabling even faster broadband. That includes bringing high-speed broadband to more hard to serve areas, including rural communities”.