Abandoning net neutrality = poorer service

[cjolley]

They applied Game Theory to the question.
I guess this is a US thing, but others might beware.
(Go ahead, laugh your a** off Sasq )

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070307152525.htm

Science Daily — Charging online content providers such as Yahoo! and Google for preferential access to the customers of Internet service providers might not be in the best interest of the millions of Americans, despite claims to the contrary, a new University of Florida study finds.


"The conventional wisdom is that Internet service providers would have greater incentive to expand their service capabilities if they were allowed to charge," said Kenneth Cheng, a professor in UF's department of decision and information sciences. Cheng and his co-authors are scheduled to present the findings at the International Conference on Information, Technology and Management in New Delhi, India, next week. "That was completely the opposite of what we found."
The research discovered that cable and telephone companies providing broadband to deliver the content of companies such as Google and Yahoo! are more likely to expand their infrastructure -- resulting in quicker loading and response in a customer's personal computer -- if they don't charge these companies for preferential treatment, Cheng said.
The findings are timely because of industry pressure on Congress to consider legislation that would allow broadband service providers to give preferential Internet service to online content providers willing to pay a fee. That would, in effect, end the current practice of "net neutrality," he said.



...

More important, the researchers found that the incentive for broadband service providers to expand and upgrade their service actually declines if net neutrality ends. Improving the infrastructure reduces the need for online content providers to pay for preferential treatment, Bandyopadhyay said.
"The whole purpose of charging for preferential treatment to content providers is that one content provider gains some edge over the other," he said. "But when the capacity is expanded, this advantage becomes negligible."
He gave the analogy of the expansion of a two-lane highway where drivers willing to pay a toll to subsidize road improvements are rewarded with exclusive use of a faster lane.
"If the road is upgraded from two to four lanes, with one express lane, these drivers might say 'Three lanes are good enough for me. I don't want to have to pay a toll any longer,'" he said. "So the desire to pay a toll when the road is expanded gets lesser."




...

[Gurm]

Wow, you think?