Narrative Busted: Internet Speeds Up 40% After the End of Net Neutrality

Ferlon Webster Jr. | December 18, 2018
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Remember when the world was going to end because of the net neutrality repeal? Well, that didn’t happen.

One year after the repeal, internet speeds are reportedly up nearly 40 percent, according to a recent Ookla Speedtest.

Common concerns among those who supported net neutrality were that internet providers would block, speed up, or slow down access to websites or apps they may be competing against. For example, the thought was that Verizon, which owns Yahoo, would favor increasing Yahoo’s browsing speed while slowing down Google’s speed.

That hasn’t happened. 

As reported by Recode:

“New Jersey had the highest mean download speed — 121 megabits per second — while Rhode Island had the fastest upload speed — 63 Mbps — in Q2 and Q3 of 2018. Maine had the slowest mean upload and download speeds (50 Mbps download, 10 Mbps upload) of any state. California, the home of Silicon Valley, ranked 17th in downloads and 24th in uploads.”

“As of October, the U.S. ranked seventh in the world in broadband and 43rd in mobile download speeds — a slight increase in rank from last year.”

So, basically those who said the end of net neutrality would bring chaos didn’t know what they were talking about. 

Compare this to the federal government’s regulations of cell phone companies. Wireless consumers will pay an estimated $16.1 billion in taxes, fees, and government surcharges to federal, state, and local governments in 2018, according to the Tax Foundation

On average, an American household with four wireless phones paying around $100 per month will spend $229 per year in wireless taxes, fees and surcharges — that’s up from $221 in 2017. Around the nation, about 20 percent of the average customer’s phone bill goes to paying wireless taxes. 

The Tax Foundation reports:

“In Chicago, taxes on a family with four lines of taxable wireless service paying $100 per month are nearly $500 per year—over 40 percent of the bill.”

Is government regulation really worth it when so much of your phone bill is made up of what you owe them in taxes? Have you noticed your cell phone coverage increase with the government regulating cell phone companies? I’d bet that most haven’t seen much of a difference. On the other hand, internet speeds have gone up significantly without government interference, seems like getting rid of net neutrality was a pretty good idea. 

 

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