[pessimizer]

>If Comcast wants the extra money they're trying to get from Netflix/Level 3/etc, but is politically prohibited from doing so, then can't they still just raise end-user's prices?

Of course they can, and will. That wouldn't divide the internet into fast lanes and slow lanes, though, and would be transparent.

[majormajor]

The follow-up becomes: is it better if more of the cost for bandwidth-intensive services is passed on to every consumer, or just to consumers of those services?

I don't know where I fall on that one.

[bandushrew]

It is Comcast's customer who requested data, and it is Comcast who is responsible for ensuring that request is fulfilled.

Therefore it is Comcast's customer who should pay for the service that Comcast provides.

Getting Netflix - for example, to pay Comcast to ensure that Comcast is willing to fulfill the requests for data by Comcast customers is just.....odd.

[vfclists]

What are these costs?

Are the bottlenecks at the junction between the ISP and the customer, or at the junction between the ISP and the content provider?

Did Comcast have purchase and install new equipment to boost Netflix speeds, or did they just flip a switch on already existing equipment to open some throttles?

[majormajor]

Presumably someone had to pay something to set up a direct interconnect between Netflix and Comcast to bypass the delivery networks that were used before. But more generally, I'd refer you back to my original post in this thread, about the costs coming from Comcast's lack of viable competition in most markets. Without fixing that issue, the cost is going to be what the consumer will bear instead of what the market will bear, net neutrality regulations or not.

[pedrocr]

> Without fixing that issue, the cost is going to be what the consumer will bear instead of what the market will bear, net neutrality regulations or not.

Actually the issue is quite the opposite. The ISPs backed themselves into a corner with unlimited plans. They can't raise prices based on usage so they're trying the next best thing, shaking down the other side of the connection. It's much easier to play hardball with Netflix than with thousands of customers, who may just say "well, if I'm going to pay that much for this connection I may as well cancel cable and use Netflix/torrents exclusively. So imposing neutrality at the interconnect would actually solve the current issue.