From CBSMarketWatch.com of 23 Mar 2006:
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Battle over Internet fees unsettled
The long-simmering debate over Net neutrality burst in public view last December after AT&T's CEO said it would be "nuts" for his company to allow firms like "Google or Yahoo" to use big chunks of "bandwidth" on the phone company's network for free.
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Generally most analysts don't think net neutrality to be at risk. But there is this fine line between protecting net neutrality and stifling innovation. From The Economist of 11 Mar 2006
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… bad, say proponents of net neutrality, since some data packets - from those agreeing to pay extra - would be favoured over others. Once one music-download service paid up, its rivals would have to do the same ... Yet some packets are already favoured even on today's internet. Businesses routinely pay a premium for fast, secure "tunnels" through the network. ... Big companies already pay extra for hosting and "content delivery" services to make their websites download faster. ... Telecom operators insist that they have no intention of blocking or slowing existing traffic.
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So why did they buy that software that can do just to Skype and other selective VoIP packets?
The internet map shows so much distant traffic across the net is transferred from little providers to the big carriers. There are numerous little carriers. But most of their traffic outside of their little regions gets carried eventually by the big carriers. Also what that map does not show is whose hardware carries those 'grey' lines. Often the XYZ Internet Company uses Bell South, Verizon, Level 3, Alternet, or Qwest lines. That map would not show whose hardware is being used. And one final point. Who controls the last mile. This was the problem that a myopic AT&T management just could not comprehend and solve. The last mile - again what that map does not show - is carried mostly by Qwest, Bell South, and Verizon. You want to service your customers? There is a separate door in every Qwest, Bell South, and Verizon facility labeled ILEC so that the independent - with permission from the big last mile provider - can service his customers via their hardware, their services, and at their prices.
Currently, the 'powers that be' are not concerned by AT&T’s threat to destroy net neutrality. But it would be so easy for them to do so once we include all those other facts not found in that colored (*.PDF) internet map. Not shown is whose hardware carries so much of that other (grey colored) traffic, who carries most long haul traffic, AND who controls the last mile.