[wmf]

There are several different forms that a multi-tiered Internet may take, and the differences matter. Charging customers to access content (as in that fictional strawman image) is not the same as charging content providers to access customers (which is actually happening).

[zero_intp]

Money is fungible. Costs to service providers /must/ be passed to those paying bills. There is no logical difference between costs to content providers and direct charges to customers.

The argument provided is an illustration to demonstrate who is paying in the end.