What Will Happen With the Lack of Net Neutrality in the US

Have the fastest possible internet in your country. Pay for the best cables, routers, and extenders. Watch your 4K House of Cards in Full HD because “your internet is too slow.”
That’s what the lack of net neutrality might look like. Except watching something in HD instead of 4k might be your smallest problem. Perhaps you’ll have to pay to be able to pay with Paypal. Do you think that’s a joke? “Surely people would protest.” Well, it happens in Portugal. Now, these services aren’t necessarily blocked, but if you don’t pay for a package, you pay more for using them, either way, you pay more.

But what are the possible consequences of the lack of net neutrality in the US?

If Internet Service Providers Fully Control the Speed of Websites Along With What Websites Can Be Accessed and at What Cost Then How Will That Impact the Users of the Internet?

Some companies might choose to increase profits on services they own. Comcast owns NBC. Netflix is popular and counts as competition. Comcast might try to encourage users to use NBC by slowing down Netflix for everybody that uses Comcast as their internet provider. That would increase their profits on NBC. They might also do something completely different and instead charge people to even use Netflix and therefore make money on services that they don’t own, but everybody uses. People won’t stop using Netflix. Most will probably pay that fee.

Comcast might do this. They will have the power to do this legally.

The result of the lack of net neutrality will be that you will more likely pay more to use the services you already use, and perhaps not getting the most efficient speed on some of them. And some will be banned altogether.

However, while this looks bad, companies choosing to increase their profits like that might not also be the end of the world. How do you gain customers? You offer something no company offers. While companies might use the lack of net neutrality for gain on their services, some companies will be able to win customers by doing nothing, their lack of action on net neutrality might be a selling point to win more customers. Them giving you freedom and full access might result in you starting to use their services.

Can a VPN Be of Any Help Against Net Neutrality and How Will It Affect the Market?

It depends on how internet providers tackle speed on websites. If PrivateVPN’s website is slowed down, using a VPN can help it be at its normal rate. However, if internet provides tackle websites by speeding up the websites they want to speed up instead of slowing down other websites, then a VPN will not be of much help.

A VPN can prevent slowing down sites by hiding what site is being accessed. It can’t help speed them up. However, the bigger problem will happen if a provider decides to block our website for instance. A lack of a working website can have a big impact on any business.

Will the Lack of Net Neutrality in the US Cause a Worldwide Phenomenon of the Same Action Across the World?

The US has a massive influence on the actions across this planet. Every major thing that happens in the US is heard across the news all over the planet. Whenever the US takes a controversial action, it gives other countries a feeling that they have a right to take that action too without any repercussions.

“If there’s no net neutrality in the US? What stops us from not having it either? There won’t be consequences.”

However, while the US has a major influence and can have an impact on countries, countries that want that already have that or some form of that. China for instance. Except, in China, it’s the government that influences network providers. For instance, the government ordered China to block access to virtual private networks by February in 2018.

In the US, every company at least has the freedom to block whatever they like. In countries like China, it’s the government that dictates what is blocked everywhere. And blocking VPN services along with thousands of websites is a real issue.

The problem is that actions like of the US allow other countries to do as they please. “You do this? We’ll do something similar.”

Who Will Control Internet Access Providers?

Internet providers will control themselves. That’s the problem. Whatever suits them, they can pretty much do. The FCC which had control over this doesn’t have as much power in this anymore. The Federal Trade Commission will share some power now on this. The problem is that they most likely not be able to stop internet providers from taking any unethical actions.

Will You Be Able to Access Copyrighted Material on the Internet?

Not in many cases. This isn’t however something new. Governments block illegal content frequently. Torrent sites for instance. However right now, what is blocked can generally be accessed. A VPN can help you access a site that is banned in the US if you change your location. A real problem happens when content is deleted like for instance if a YouTube video is deleted. If it’s removed, you can’t access it.

The thing is that content is always being blocked. And then somebody recreates some website, and it’s back again. However, blocking a website was a much longer process before than it will be.

If internet providers have control over what sites are blocked, they can easily block websites with illegal content every time they pop up. If NBC has a new TV show and people can download it or stream it on the internet, Comcast can just easily block the website that shows that stuff without a problem at a much quicker pace.

So whether torrent websites, streaming websites, or Kodi third-party add-ons, you can expect to see less content on the internet in the future, or at least it will be harder to find it.

Should You Start Using a VPN?

Right now, a VPN can allow you to be virtually in any location while also being encrypted. You can access any content you want simply by changing your location. In the future? Once net neutrality is actually gone, you will be able to bypass slowing down of websites provided that they are slowed down versus exclusive websites being at a faster speed.

Check out the guide on how to set it up on computers and mobile devices.

Will Net Neutrality Be Back?

Being able to do whatever you want on one side is freedom. That freedom can also prevent millions from doing whatever they want. Freedom can kill freedom.


Net neutrality will stay, and it will go. In a sense in which the US getting rid of it opened up possibilities to many other countries that will never revert to having some form of net neutrality once they remove it. In the US? It will most likely be back in the future. The US is a country in which people can have a big influence once they commit to something. It’s also a full democracy. And based on the amount of opposition when it comes to it, it’s only a matter of time.

Written by Michael Smolski.