Poor Internet providers. They have to carry all that horrible, horrible traffic from Netflix and YouTube, and they just can’t afford it anymore. Unless they start charging end users 21 percent more for Internet access, or unless they’re allowed to bill Internet companies at 3.7¢ per GB, the Internet could « become unusable at peak times » due to congestion.
The basic argument is simple and well-known. The ISPs claim that they just can’t afford all the investment they’ve been making, and that’s it totally unfair that companies like Netflix get to make nice business on their pipes without paying their fair share. Yes, it’s the old, tired claim about « freeriding« : […]
The Kearney report at least takes a slightly better approach to the fear-mongering, at least admitting that Internet backbone traffic is fine—it’s those last-mile networks that need all the cash.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/huge-isps-want-per-gb-payments-from-netflix-youtube.ars