Tom Wheeler | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Wed, 04 Feb 2015 23:12:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Tom Wheeler | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 New Title II regulations will be in the hands of the FCC tomorrow https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/online/brendan-morgan/new-title-ii-regulations-will-be-in-the-hands-of-the-fcc-tomorrow/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/online/brendan-morgan/new-title-ii-regulations-will-be-in-the-hands-of-the-fcc-tomorrow/#respond Wed, 04 Feb 2015 21:50:42 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=234031 FCC chairman Tom Wheeler will reveal his new net neutrality rules to the four other FCC commissioners tomorrow, but he has let us know pretty clearly what direction he is heading in and it's looking like a big win for consumers. In an opinion article for Wired, he said that “[the] rules will ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling …

The post New Title II regulations will be in the hands of the FCC tomorrow first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
FCC chairman Tom Wheeler will reveal his new net neutrality rules to the four other FCC commissioners tomorrow, but he has let us know pretty clearly what direction he is heading in and it's looking like a big win for consumers. In an opinion article for Wired, he said that “[the] rules will ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services.” and this will even be extended to mobile broadband.

This is not going to make Americas broadband network operators happy at all, they have already been trying to limit the damage that they FCC can do to their business with the help of Republicans in Congress. This effort is now pretty much at an end, but even if the FCC votes in favour of these new Title II regulations on the 26th of February (it is looking pretty certain that they will pass them) this will probably turn into a far larger legal fight, between cable companies and the US court system.
FCC
Assuming this does in fact pass and eventually makes it past any legal tests by cable companies, it will be a massive win for broadband consumers in the states, abolishing any of the fast and slow lane issues that companies such as Netflix have encountered first hand. At least in some ways though, the new changes to Title II will not all be bad for cable companies, as there will be no rate regulation, no tariffs and no last-mile unbundling.

Mr. Wheeler also let us know, that he has got the message from consumers loud and clear and it is a message that he believes in “The internet must be fast, fair and open. That is the message I’ve heard from consumers and innovators across this nation. That is the principle that has enabled the internet to become an unprecedented platform for innovation and human expression.”

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: While this will probably take quite long time to get through any legal challenges presented by the various ISPs, if it makes it through unscathed and as Wheeler has described it then this should be a good step for US internet users. How do you feel about this and what do you think it will mean for US internet users?

Source: Wired

The post New Title II regulations will be in the hands of the FCC tomorrow first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/online/brendan-morgan/new-title-ii-regulations-will-be-in-the-hands-of-the-fcc-tomorrow/feed/ 0
FCC to vote on net neutrality on 26th February https://www.kitguru.net/professional/networking/brendan-morgan/fcc-to-vote-on-net-neutrality-on-february-26/ https://www.kitguru.net/professional/networking/brendan-morgan/fcc-to-vote-on-net-neutrality-on-february-26/#comments Thu, 08 Jan 2015 00:31:39 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=229473 Chairman Tom Wheeler of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has confirmed during a CES speech, that the voting on the open Internet order will go ahead on the 26th of February. He also all but confirmed that internet service providers (ISPs) will be reclassified as common carriers under Title II provisions in the Communications Act. This would mean that the FCC would ban blocking, …

The post FCC to vote on net neutrality on 26th February first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Chairman Tom Wheeler of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has confirmed during a CES speech, that the voting on the open Internet order will go ahead on the 26th of February. He also all but confirmed that internet service providers (ISPs) will be reclassified as common carriers under Title II provisions in the Communications Act. This would mean that the FCC would ban blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization by ISPs in the US.

ISPs have been strongly against the idea of being reclassified to common carriers and will likely go as far as they can in the US courts to legally challenge any attempt by the FCC to do so. But with President Obama siding with consumers and the FCC on this issue, fighting it will an uphill battle for ISPs.

FCC Tom Wheeler
Howard Buskirk,  executive senior editor of Communications Daily tweeted:

Reclassifying the ISPs as common carriers would not go as far as to force local loop unbundling, which forces network operators to allow leased access to the last mile of cabling, as we have here in the UK with Openreach. But it would force them to offer internet access to the public on reasonable terms.

Of course local loop unbundling could come at a later date, however the NCTA which represents major internet providers such as Comcast and Time Warner among others is pretty confident that this is unlikely as the FCC has tried this before, ending in a massive failure, one they are not likely to want to repeat. Steve Morris, the NCTA’s associate general counsel said: “I think the thing that worries people the most is probably rate regulation,”. This would allow the FCC to regulate the rates charged by ISPs for certain services and not just for home users, but also businesses like Netflix who send massive amounts of traffic across ISPs networks.

It is probably still going to take a long time for any result to come out of this vote on the 26th of February, as even if it does pass, ISPs will likely challenge the decision leading to long drawn out court battles. So for now US internet users are stuck with the system they have.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: While local loop unbundling here in the UK seems to have worked pretty well for the most part, anyone who has had experience dealing with Openreach (The BT subsidiary who control everything about the last mile) knows that it can be a total nightmare. Most UK ISP's I have come to despise Openreach bureaucracy and even BT have trouble with it sometimes. Still, at the end of the day, one cable comes into your home and you can then switch to any provider in your area. Time will tell what is in store for US internet users.

Image source: Betawired

The post FCC to vote on net neutrality on 26th February first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/professional/networking/brendan-morgan/fcc-to-vote-on-net-neutrality-on-february-26/feed/ 1
FCC might reject Obama’s net neutrality proposal https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/fcc-might-reject-obamas-net-neutrality-proposal/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/fcc-might-reject-obamas-net-neutrality-proposal/#comments Thu, 13 Nov 2014 17:22:08 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=221755 Earlier this week President Obama announced his support for Net Neutrality, calling for the FCC to reclassify the Internet as a utility. Unfortunately, the FCC chairman, Tom Wheeler, has other ideas and has indicated that he will be rejecting the proposal put forward by the president. According to The Washington Post, Wheeler told a group …

The post FCC might reject Obama’s net neutrality proposal first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Earlier this week President Obama announced his support for Net Neutrality, calling for the FCC to reclassify the Internet as a utility. Unfortunately, the FCC chairman, Tom Wheeler, has other ideas and has indicated that he will be rejecting the proposal put forward by the president.

According to The Washington Post, Wheeler told a group of Internet companies, including Yahoo, Google and Etsy, that he was in favor of a more “nuanced” solution, which would combine elements of Obama's plan but also give in to the huge Internet providers.

Netneutralitycopy1
Image Source.

While this very well may be the FCC's plan, the commission did take issue with The Washington Post's article, stating that nothing has been decided on just yet. Gigi Sohn, a member of the FCC's special counsel for external affairs, did tweet out that all options currently remain on the table.

While a final decision has yet to be made, according to sources, Wheeler was “visibly frustrated” during the meeting discussing Obama's proposal. He is also quoted as repeatedly saying “I am  an independent agency”, meaning that he doesn't have to answer directly to the government.

There have been concerns surrounding Wheeler as the head of the FCC since he was appointed last year as he spent many years as a lobbyist for large telecom corporations, the same ones that want Net Neutrality to go away in order to make more money.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: While it was nice to see Obama take a stance on net neutrality, it doesn't look like the FCC is going to accept his proposal. That said, no final decisions have been made yet so we will all just have to keep waiting for more news.

Sources: The Washington Post, The Verge

The post FCC might reject Obama’s net neutrality proposal first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/fcc-might-reject-obamas-net-neutrality-proposal/feed/ 3