What does Net Neutrality mean for you and me? With the Indian government adopting an official stand to keep the Internet in India neutral, it begs the question of why should I, a common citizen be aware of this and how it would impact me. In its elemental definition Net Neutrality when adopted by a body like TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India), the government arm that regulates the telecom market, it means that all telecom players will not discriminate between one content and another, between one website and another and will provide the same speed and bandwidth to all content. In essence, the end user can subscribe to any content and be assured that he gets the minimum bandwidth promised to him as per his/her plan.
How do you get affected?
You can decide what you want to do with, let us say, the 1 GB per day plan you have with Reliance or Airtel or Idea. You can use the 1 GB to watch a movie on Netflix or use it to listen to music on Gaana.com or just do plain old browsing. No matter what you decide to do with your 1 GB, your provider cannot restrict or boost your bandwidth or speed.
Telecom providers will also not be able to promote their chosen apps or websites over other similar offerings. The choice is up to the end customer.
Effectively, Net Neutrality prevents the Internet providers from becoming the Gatekeepers. The hardware store can sell you pipes and water pumps, but cannot dictate what you pump using them. It could be water, milk or gasoline. The choice is up to you.
