Hang on to your hats for a flood of anti-cord cutting stories telling you that with the end of net neutrality the world will end and, more importantly, you might as well sign back up for cable TV.
Yesterday the FCC announced that they would vote and switch broadband from a Title II communication service to a Title I service and move the regulations of broadband Internet back to the system that was used prior to 2015. Remember we have only had net neutrality for just over two years.
I became a cord cutter in 2012, so for most of my time as a cord cutter there was no net neutrality; however, we are already seeing a flood of stories saying it will now be impossible to become a cord cutter or stream content. The stories all end the same way: You might as well just go and sign up for cable TV today.
Remember where many of these stories come from. The majority have close ties to the cable industry. Also, negative news stories bring a huge number of views that turn into a lot of money. So make sure to take them with a grain of salt and don’t throw in the towel on some perceived threat.
Here are my recommendations on what to do about net neutrality.
First, if you are upset about this make sure to call your representative in Congress. Let your voice be heard as there has already been talk of a bill in Congress to make net neutrality a law not just a legal rule from the FCC. Posting online is great but will unlikely be seen by the people who matter.
Second, take a deep breath and wait. At this time nothing has happened and there will be plenty of time to worry once we know what will happen next. Yet we may have an idea as all we need to do is think back 3 years for an idea of what the internet was like before net neutrality.
Home Internet even today has many issues and is overpriced. My real hope is 5G home Internet. Once we have 5 or maybe even 10 options for home Internet, we will start to see prices come down, data caps go away, and true net neutrality comes into play.
Currently, companies like Verizon, AT&T, Dish, Charter, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Google all have a target date of 2020 to have half of the United States covered with 5G home Internet.
Once that happens you will be able to vote with your dollar and give it to the company that gives you the best service.
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