Manufacturers Need to Get into Net Neutrality Debate

Implications: 1.      Big ISP providers, such as AT&T and Comcast, should not be the only companies calling for a more equitable means of obtaining fees for their network pipes. 2.      Equipment vendors have a vested interest in seeing that their customers can make reasonable profits on transport. 3.      If the vendors start using their influence, it will bolster the positions of the carriers on the net neutrality madness.

Analysis:  If companies like Cisco Systems and Alcatel-Lucent started throwing their political weight around on the subject of net neutrality, it would be easier for their customers to get a premium for heavy users of their infrastructure.   Their participation should go beyond being extensions of the TIA and “personal position[s].” As independent corporations, they need to each support subscribers not having “unlimited access.”  

It does not make sense that a small percentage of customers should be able to pay the same amount as everybody else despite using a lot of the available bandwidth. It is inevitable that the industry is going to get to “a sustainable business model.”  Several providers have begun to take incremental steps in this direction.   It would be very helpful if the suppliers could be courageous enough to speak out on the industry doing the right thing.  

Although Light Reading is being somewhat tongue in cheek, in all seriousness, there is  no constitutional right to using someone else’s property in a boundless way.   An “open Internet” does not preclude a reasonable price for the enablers of this service -- determined by “market dynamics.”