John, a YouTube influencer, has been doing quite well in the last couple of years. He has been able to build a significant following of two million, and his revenue has grown from a few pennies to hundreds of thousands of dollars per month.
Pretty good income for a regular dude who sits at his home, create some contents, promote some products/services, and upload into his YouTube channel
His best buddy, Mark, has attained the much-converted celebrity status on Twitter. Mark can generate lots of emotional response from his audience by merely tweeting a couple of texts.
Well, things were going pretty okay for the two friends until the big news hit the airwaves — network neutrality has been repealed, and the Internet Service Providers can exercise more control over how their users access the internet.
The thing is; the news is entirely harmless to the untrained eyes. And the two friends are pretty much unconcerned by the legal fight that has been happening in the senate.
After all, what does a bill has to do with their influencer marketing business?
The next morning, John experienced some frustrations as he tried to make his regular YouTube visual contents. He noticed the issue is not location dependent. Folks who access the internet using the same service provider can not stream YouTube videos with ease.
It’s either they’re viewing blurred visual contents, or it’s taking so much time to log into the YouTube account.
Meanwhile, John, who uses the same internet service provider, is having a great time. Everything is all rosy, and making a couple of tweets every now and then has never been so easy.
This fictitious story illustrates what the network (or net) neutrality repeal is all about.
With net neutrality, two customers who use the same service providers would have different experiences on the internet. And their level of expertise would largely depend on the decisions of their Internet Service Providers.
Here’s the thing; these decisions are made behind closed doors. And most times, the customers may not be put into consideration.
To the service providers, it’s all about what serves the higher purpose — increasing the bottom line, generating more profits, and achieving other specific objectives. Customer’s interest may be left behind if it doesn’t fit into the higher purpose.
Pretty awful, right? But you can do something about it.
The internet is believed to be a leveling ground, and it provides equal opportunity for all.
Over the years, there has been back and forth tussle on how the internet is to be regulated. Some folks believed that a neutral playing field breeds competition and innovation. Others, however, are profit-oriented — may the most massive pocket win!
Spoiler alert: With the emergence of the net neutrality repeal, your freedom is gone — and every slight chance of taking control of your online experience is taken away from you.
If you believe that your ISP is the good guys here, then you should think back to what transpired between AT&T and Apple FaceTime, or how Verizon slowed down Netflix traffic in 2014.
The Net Neutrality repeal — What’s at Risk?
Originally, net neutrality is designed to provide a level playing ground for websites and content creators on the internet. But with the net neutrality repeal, the level playing ground is gone — and content distribution would be mostly dependent on who the ISP favors.
Simply put, net neutrality repeal gives Internet Service Providers the power to determine which website loads faster. And if you’ve been around for quite some time, then you’d know that ISP’s may likely abuse such powers.
Ideally, contents which are produced by partners or friends of ISPs would load faster, while the competitor’s contents would take ages to load.
Also, smaller companies or startups may not get the chance to showcase their contents on their customer’s screen.
Here comes the big question — who should control how contents appear on the user’s screen?
Freedom, innovation, common rights, and easy access to the internet are the fundamental factors which appeal to the public.
By eliminating net neutrality, ISP’s would exercise more control, regulate how the user accesses content, and even overcharge customers.
Slowly but surely, the internet would transform into a luxury commodity for the super wealthy.
Before delving into the ways of getting around net neutrality with a VPN, let’s get back to the fundamentals and consider the benefits of net neutrality.
Benefits of Net Neutrality
There are a couple of benefits that come with net neutrality. Some of which are…
Limits discriminatory practices
Net neutrality is designed to give customers more autonomy. Internet Service Providers have little to no control over how their users access their infrastructure.
AT&T, Comcast, and other service providers are limited when it comes to moderating the customer’s internet usage.
Promotes Freedom
Nowadays, everyone has a voice. By merely opening your smartphone, you get to connect to the world and share your opinions.
Websites, blogs, and social media platforms help you to get your opinions out.
With the net neutrality repeal, your freedom is lost — and if your opinions don’t align with that of your service providers, then they’re more likely to block it from trending on the web.
Hinders criminal activities online
Net neutrality provides customers with the best online experience. Customers get to freely share and receive lots of information online without any form of restriction.
Having freedom on the internet doesn’t mean that fraudsters would be allowed to cheat regular folks on the web.
All forms of illegal activities are prohibited across the web, and there are severe consequences for anyone who is found wanting.
Boost innovation and advancement
Platforms like Facebook and Twitter were able to rise to prominence pretty quickly due to net neutrality.
With net neutrality, other promising startups would have a level playing ground. This way, startups would give giant companies a run for their money.
Competition breeds innovation and advancement. Net neutrality accomplishes that and more.
Internet Service Provides serves as utility providers
With net neutrality, service providers are considered as utility providers.
There are standard pricing for internet access.
By merely paying a standard fee, the customer would subscribe for specific internet bandwidth.
No fancy pricing!
Everyone pays the minimum price. Regardless of your internet consumption rate, you get to access your favorite contents online without breaking the bank.
Well, all these benefits seem to be changing with the birth of the net neutrality repeal. Internet Service Providers get to roll out some fancy pricing plans, and if you’re not in their good books, you will experience some form of internet access restrictions.
The downside of net neutrality
The idea of net neutrality is not all rosy. Here are a couple of reasons which would make you have a rethink of the general concept of net neutrality.
- Massive data consumption
Ideally, the internet is not meant for enormous data consumption. The idea of live streaming and other forms of heavy data usage was not the original idea behind the creation of the internet.
Nowadays, the internet is pretty much part of our daily lives — and everyone seems to be basking in the excitement that comes with live streaming and online video contents.
Also, there has been a rapid rise in the use of live video call apps and streaming services like YouTube and Netflix.
The thing is; these services offer HD contents, and someone has to pay for the increased bandwidth volume.
Net neutrality eliminates the need for these payments, and as such, more infrastructural pressure is put on the service providers.
Limits revenue generation and inhibits the development of infrastructures
Here’s the thing; the internet needs of folks vary from one person to the next. With the repeal of net neutrality, internet users would have to pay based on their unique needs.
That is; folks who consume more data would have to pay more, while others who consume less data online would pay less.
Sounds like a fair deal, right?
What happens to the extra cash generated?
The cash would be directed into infrastructural development, and more infrastructure would be established.
That is, service providers would be enabled to build more fiber networks across several communities.
All in all, there would be significant infrastructural development in the industry.
The ISP doesn’t exercise much control
The ISP is the primary source of internet to the regular customer. And they can slow down or fluctuate the internet connection when you’re streaming videos online from sites like Hulu or Netflix.
Why?
Because if the ISP gets a good pay cut from competing for online services, they will prioritize the website over all other streaming sites.
All in all, it’s all about who pays more cash to the Internet Service Provider.
Net neutrality provides a level playing ground
All kinds of content can be found on the web — good, bad, or explicit content; they are found on the internet.
No discrimination, no filters, and no restriction. That’s the kind of freedom available with net neutrality.
Folks can easily share their religious beliefs or their flawed thought pattern without any form of restriction.
Yes, there’s an option of reporting these contents. But the underlying factor is the freedom you’re offered with net neutrality.
However, there won’t be such freedom with the net neutrality repeal.
With the net neutrality repeal, Internet Service Providers get to exercise much control. They choose the kind of content that appears on the internet and also showcase some fancy payment plans.
That’s not all…
The content limitation may lead to various kinds of discrimination like socioeconomic discrimination and prioritizing content delivery for high-network individuals who are willing to pay more for fast internet services.
The funds generated from the extra payment would be used to expand infrastructure.
Also, businesses that consume lots of internet bandwidth would be offered complimentary giveaways.
For instance, if you manage a business which pays more for internet bandwidth, the ISP may offer free Facebook to your company.
Net Neutrality repeal — What’s in for you?
With the net neutrality repeal, regular internet users should see a couple of changes.
Your internet freedom may be taken away from you, and you get to also pay more before using the internet.
Yes, the ISP would likely assure you of no changes. But like other company, your ISP is in business to make more money. Therefore, expect changes that would boost the bottom line of your service provider.
What’s more, prepare for ISP throttling and lots of bandwidth limitation.
If you’re like most people, you’re probably not happy with the idea of net neutrality repeal.
Well, there’s something you can do about it, and here’s how to get around the net neutrality repeal.
Getting Around Net Neutrality Repeal.
With net neutrality repeal, service providers get to experience lots of control over internet usage. And they may tend to slow down a competitor’s content and restrict the customer from accessing certain information online.
Here’s the thing; net neutrality would probably put lots of internet limitations to the average web users, but you can get around these limitations by using a reliable VPN service.
Remember how your internet service slows down when you run out of data in a month?
Pretty daunting! Right?
Well, such experiences may be a common occurrence when service providers take advantage of the net neutrality repeal.
Such a frustrating occurrence would be legal, and service providers owe no one an explanation.
That’s where a VPN service comes into play.
Here’s how it works…
VPN service keeps your content away from third-party agents and prying eyes. This way, you get to have more satisfying and smooth web experience.
Ideally, VPNs encrypts your web traffic, mask your online activity, and also prevents your service provider from identifying where you’re connecting to.
When a service provider is unable to monitor your web traffic, they would be unable to throttle (and regulate) your online activity.
Therefore, you can freely access any site, watch and download heavy contents without experiencing slow network connection or any form of setback from the service provider.
Sounds pretty cool! Right?
Even if the service provider noticed that the customer is consuming heavy content with larger bandwidth, they might do little or nothing about it.
Also, excellent VPN services has a way of compressing the data volume from a site — and it can be achieved by lowering the data consumption rates.
What’s more, VPNs has a way of preventing the ISP from identifying that the user has bypassed their throttling protocol.
That’s not all…
With VPN services, you get to block ads and eliminate geographic restrictions.
How to choose the right VPN service for your needs
There are a couple of things to consider before choosing a VPN service.
First off, you’ve got to understand that free VPNs are of no good. They merely provide minimum encryption.
However, if you want to take your data encryption to a new level, you’ve got to look for VPN services which offers features like top-notch encryption tools such as the Internet protocol security (IPSec), Security associations (SA), Perfect forward secrecy (PFS), Internet key exchange (IKE), Authentication header (AH), and other security features.
Whether you’re looking for a safe way of surfing the internet or you merely want to stream high-quality visual content without the interference of your service provider, you should for VPN market leaders like the IPBurger VPN services.
All in all, customers would have to pay service providers for internet access, and not worry about the possibility of a slow network connection due to some fancy pricing by the network providers.
Conclusion — Get around net neutrality repeal with a VPN service
Net neutrality repeal comes with a different kind of challenge. And as the big dogs are fighting over the issue, all you’ve got to do is protect your self-interest by using a VPN service.
With a reliable VPN service, you’d be able to encrypt your data and browse your favorite site without the prying eyes of the Internet Service Provider.
Also, you get to restore your online freedom, stream your favorite visual contents, and avoid the fancy price tags of your network providers.
What’s next, use a VPN service today for a renewed online experience.
