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The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted to reinstate rules repealed in 2017 that would prevent internet service providers from disrupting your internet speed.

The 3-2 vote along political party lines restores net neutrality – a policy that ensures your internet service provider doesn’t block or slow legal traffic, or charge more to deliver some content more quickly.

The commission voted in October by a vote of 3-2 to advance the proposal that would reinstate net neutrality rules and once again give it regulatory oversight of broadband internet, which had been rescinded under former President Donald Trump.

The FCC said it was also using its new authority to order the U.S. divisions of China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile to stop broadband internet access services in the United States, according to Reuters.

The Chinese carriers must discontinue service within 60 days of the effective date of the order, Reuters reported.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel noted the commission has taken similar actions against Chinese telecom companies in the past using existing authority, Reuters said.

What did FCC commissioners say before the vote?

The pandemic – and the way consumers used the internet for school, work and health care – made clear that to engage with the world, it had to be done through a broadband connection, Rosenworcel said Thursday during her remarks before the vote.

"It became clear that no matter who you are or where you live, you need broadband to have a fair shot at digital-age success,'' she said. "It went from nice to have, to need to have for everyone, everywhere. Broadband is now an essential service and essential services are ones we count on in every aspect of modern life to have some basic oversight."

Fellow FCC Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna M. Gomez voted with Rosenworcel to approve the rule.

"Some, no doubt, will claim this is all a scheme for the government to control the internet. But let's be real," Starks said in his remarks, "It is about empowering consumers to control how they experience the internet while ensuring the provider is not impeding or prioritizing certain content."

Gomez, who also repeated her remarks in Spanish, said the action would offer protection for all consumers, "but especially for those communities that have historically been left on the wrong side of the digital divide."

FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington cast dissenting votes.

In his remarks before the vote, Carr said the internet has thrived in America "in the absence" of regulation by the government.

Carr questioned whether Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) will continue to invest with the new rule, saying broadband investments slowed down after 2015 and picked back up in 2017 after the repeal.

"I am confident that we will right this ship and I'm certain that the courts will overturn this unlawful power grab,"Carr said.

Net neutrality has been priority for Biden

Reinstating the rules has been a focus for President Joe Biden, who signed a July 2021 executive order urging the FCC to restore net neutrality rules put in place under President Barack Obama, according to Reuters.

Democrats were unable to make those changes during the time they lacked a majority on the five-member FCC but that balance changed in October, Reuters said.

During the Trump administration, the commission argued that net neutrality rules dampened innovation and discouraged internet service providers from putting money into the network.

What is net neutrality?

Net neutrality is the belief that an internet service provider, or ISP, should give all consumers fair and equal access to legal content and applications. Providers should not favor some, or block others. They also shouldn't charge content providers for speedier delivery of their content on "fast lanes," and deliberately slow down content from content providers that compete with ISPs.

Years ago, the hot-button issue even made for a popular segment on John Oliver’s show "Last Week Tonight," where he urged people to visit the FCC’s website to give their opinions on the issue, which generated millions of comments. 

When was net neutrality repealed?

Net neutrality was repealed in December 2017.

Then FCC Chair Ajit Pai said the repeal would help more Americans get high-speed internet access, as companies would spend more on building networks "without the overhang of heavy-handed regulation" and that would create jobs.

Net neutrality pros and cons

The FCC argues there are a number of benefits for consumers – the openness establishes basic rules for ISPs so they don’t block legal content, throttle speeds and create “fast lanes” for people who can pay for it.

Reclassifying broadband under Title II allows the FCC to apply cybersecurity standards, and will require ISPsto notify the FCC and consumers of internet outages.

Advocates and experts also say net neutrality is positive for consumers. 

AARP Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy & Engagement Officer Nancy LeaMond lauded Thursday's decision. "The rule will protect consumers online, helping to prevent online fraud and scams while safeguarding privacy and access to content," she said in an emailed statement.

Net neutrality protects consumers from ISPs controlling what you see, Chris Lewis, president and chief executive officer at Public Knowledge, has previously told USA TODAY. “Broadband is an essential communications tool, so we need the rules to be fair.”

Can net neutrality rules affect prices?

Possibly.

Lewis gives the example of streaming services, which create their own websites and apps to access the internet and reach the consumer. While these sites already pay for internet access, broadband providers want to charge an additional user fee that is passed on to consumers, he said. 

“With net neutrality, that fee is prohibited. The savings are indirect, but they’re real,” he said.

Is net neutrality important for the internet infrastructure?

Mallory Knodel, chief technology officer of the Center for Democracy and Technology, has told USA TODAY old broadband network wires need replacing and ISPs haven’t done a great job maintaining the infrastructure or building it out in an equitable way.

It has led to a “dirt road effect,” she said, where low-income subscribers end up with deprioritized traffic or a nonfunctional internet.

With broadband infrastructure needing a lot of work, can net neutrality help?

"Only abstractly," Knodel said. “If net neutrality prevents profit-making off of preferential treatment and innovation in traffic shaping, then perhaps it follows that they would put efforts elsewhere, namely into maintenance and building out of the network. In any case, the latter has far greater benefits to consumers.”

The argument against net neutrality

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members include Amazon, Apple, Alphabet and Meta Platforms support net neutrality, previously saying that the policy "must be reinstated to preserve open access to the internet," according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, USTelecom, whose members include AT&T and Verizon, have said restoring net neutrality is "entirely counterproductive, unnecessary, and an anti-consumer regulatory distraction," Reuters said.

In 2018, Verizon was accused of throttling Santa Clara County’s unlimited data during the Mendocino wildfires, disrupting their ability to coordinate until they upgraded to an expensive service plan. It resulted in a lawsuit showing the effects of the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality rules.

When browsing:What is a good internet speed?

At the time, a Verizon spokesperson told USA TODAY that the issue was not related to net neutrality court proceedings, but was due to a customer service error, and that Verizon had a practice for removing data restrictions during emergency situations.

A dozen states have net neutrality laws or regulations in place on their own, despite the 2017 decision to withdraw the requirement at the federal level, Reuters reported. Industry groups dropped legal challenges to those state requirements in May 2022. 

Contributing: Reuters

Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] or follow her on X, Facebook or Instagram @blinfisher. Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, which will include consumer news on Fridays, here.