The fastest and slowest Internet speeds in America

The tiny town of Ephrata, Wash., is home to just 7,664 residents. It has six public schools, an Amtrak station and one tiny newspaper, the Grant County Journal. It also has the fastest broadband Internet in America.
That’s according to Net Index, a measure of Internet speed maintained by Ookla, a software and broadband testing company based in Seattle and Kalispell, Mont. The company’s software tests Internet download speeds across the country, and for the first half of last year, it found Ephrata’s average download speed of 85.5 megabits per second was far faster than anywhere else in the country.
Kansas City came in second, the study found, at an average speed of 49.9 Mbps. Both cities have help: Ephrata is home to iFiber Communications, a broadband company that covers four sparsely populated rural Washington counties. And in 2011, Google chose Kansas City to be the guinea pig in an experiment to bring ultra high-speed Internet access to metro areas.

Internet access is a basic human right: A Q&A with Keren Elazari

Two weeks ago, hours after Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed to “wipe out” Twitter, his government blocked access to the platform across the country. It was just weeks before a hotly contended election, and Erdoğan was upset about tweets accusing him of corruption. A judicial ruling in Turkey called for Twitter to take down the offending links, but when Twitter did not comply, the Turkish government opted to block the site. (Since then, the courts have deemed the ban illegal, but the government has yet to lift it — and instead banned access to YouTube as well, reportedly due to a security leak.)

Other governments have also tried to block access to parts or all of the Internet in the past, including Egypt’s Internet shutdown in January 2011 and Syria’s in May 2013. As it happened, cybersecurity expert Keren Elazari was talking at TED2014 about the effects of the Egyptian shutdown and others like it around the same time as news of the Turkish Twitter ban was starting to trend on Twitter.

In her talk, Elazari said that hackers play an essential role in giving power, or free access to information, back to the people when governments try to take it away. We were curious to hear her take on the situation in Turkey, so we sat down with her to discuss the ban and the uneasy relationship between tech companies, like Facebook or Twitter, and governments. An edited version of our conversation follows:

So what’s really going on in Turkey?  

Hong Kong increases lead in Internet speed league, now up to 63.6 Mbps

As the first country ever to break through the 60 Mbps Internet speed barrier, Hong Kong has, according to the latest figures from Akamai, increased its lead over its closest rivals.
Now enjoying an average peak connection speed of 63.6 Mbps, people in Hong Kong should be saying to themselves, “wow, that’s fast.” Especially when you consider that the world average peak connection speed is 18.4 Mbps.

Worldwide leaders in Internet speed

Over the first quarter 2013, South Korea fell to fourth place with 44.8 Mbps, bypassed by both Japan and Romania at 50 Mbps and 47.9 Mbps respectively.
Here’s what the current top 10 list looks like (we added the United States for reference):

Hong Kong seems to be more and more in a league of its own. According to Akamai, this is due to investments in FTTH (Fiber To The Home) infrastructure and aggressive high speed pricing, which now seems to be paying off.
A few other things worth noting:

Lowering Barriers to High Speed Internet in the Arab World

On affordability grounds alone, millions of people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region could be excluded from today’s information revolution. Meeting this challenge has become a top regional priority. Many countries in the Arab world have identified broadband Internet as a critical input to the broader objective of nation building and the transition to a knowledge-based economy. There is growing consensus that broadband Internet is critical in fostering sustainable economic development and job creation, and a key component of strategies for reducing poverty, enhancing job opportunities, and advancing trade integration. Indeed broadband is expected to have a similar impact on the transformation of the economy and of society as a whole as the printing press, steam engines, or electricity had in the past. But for it to have its full impact, people will need access to it. As a consequence, an increasing number of countries across MENA are adopting national broadband strategies to promote broadband access. Today 11 countries out of 19 in the region have already adopted such policies. The adoption of a national broadband strategy or policy means that a country is making dedicated efforts to stimulate broadband market development in a systematic and holistic way with all key stakeholders. At the core of such a plan are often ambitious national targets for broadband penetration or coverage. For example, the Arab Republic of Egypt’s “eMisr” National Broadband Plan calls for about 22 percent of households subscribed to fixed broadband by 2015 and about 40 percent by 2021.

How do I... get faster internet at home?

Your experience of the internet is heavily governed by the speed at which it is served. Slow internet, for instance, can make web pages load slowly. 

Fortunately there are ways to make your internet faster. Here are some tips.

Check your speed

Before taking any action you should check your current internet speed. Go to the SpeedTest.net website and hit 'Begin Test'. This will tell you your ping (lower is better), download speed (higher is better) and upload speed (again, higher is better). 
If the numbers you are getting seem much lower than what you are meant to be getting, ring up your internet service provider to see what's going on. If you are getting good numbers but experiencing problems, the issue is perhaps elsewhere.

A screenshot ofSpeedtest.net

Check what's using your internet

Slow Internet Speeds

Several factors can contribute to slow Internet speeds.   This article defines potential contributing factors to slower Internet speeds, suggests additional resources and recommends troubleshooting steps to  increase your Internet speed. 
First things first…  Click here to run a Charter speed test.
If you are experiencing slow speeds over a wireless connection, use an Ethernet cord to hardwire into your gateway to run your speed test (to isolate if it's a potential issue with your Internet connection or with your wireless performance).

• Potential Causes
• File Sharing Programs
• Virus/Adware/Malware
• Firewalls
• Low available system memory (RAM)

• Resources
• Charter Internet Speed Packages

• Troubleshooting
• Slow Speeds
• Deleting Files and Cookies - Internet Explorer
• Running NETSTAT - Windows XP
• Windows Vista
• Windows 7
• Checking your computers RAM
• Ultra 100 Considerations

• Quick Links
• Charter Speed Test
• Powerboost™ Reference
• Slow WiFi Speeds
• About Charter Internet

 

Potential Causes

File Sharing Programs

Programs such as LimeWire, KaZaa, Bit Torrent, ect.  are File Sharing Programs.  File Sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information such as computer programs, multi media (audio, video), documents or electronic books.  Because they require uploading and downloading huge amounts of data, they hog your Internet speed.

Virus/Adware/Malware

These types of programs are installed and run on your computer without your knowledge.  You may inadvertently download one of these by clicking on unknown hyperlinks or opening files attached to emails.  To check your computer, download the Charter Security Suite

Firewalls

A firewall monitors and logs incoming and outgoing network traffic on your computer, and includes a set of rules for what is allowed.  By definition, these programs scan all data that comes in to and out of your computer, so the stricter you have the firewall's rules set, the more intense scanning it has to perform, thereby potentially slowing down your Internet speeds.  You likely have a program to manage this for you – in most cases, the default rules are sufficient and well-suited for home use.

Low available system memory (RAM)

Random Access Memory (RAM), also known as a computer's "memory", provides space for your computer to read and write data as is required to run certain programs.  The more programs you have running on your computer, the more RAM or memory that is being used, meaning the slower your computer will operate.

How to Speed Up Your Slow Internet Connection

Broadband internet connections have given users access to instant information. However, slow internet connection problems are becoming more common. The speed of your internet connection is based on a number of factors. If any of these factors are hampered, the overall connection speed will slow. Some causes of slow internet connection are beyond your control. For example a poor Internet Service Provider (ISP).
The majority of the connection problems can be easily eliminated with a few maintenance task. Some of the factors that directly affect your internet net connection are modem speed, line quality, windows cache, security software and the quality of your internet service provider. The tips below will help you to tweak your system to get the best that your broadband has to offer.
Special Note: One of the major causes of slowdown on the net is spyware. So, before you begin tweaking your setting. Make sure that your computer is free of spyware and other nasty. There are tons of good anti-spyware programs out there like Microsoft Security Essentials. Errors also play big part in your internet and performance slow down. Learn how to make your PC faster and Find Errors that cause a slow internet connection.

How to Check Your Internet Speed

You can check your internet connection by hovering your mouse pointer over the internet connection icon in the bottom right hand corner of your screen. A pop up window will display your internet connection. You can also click the icon to launch the Properties window. Also you can test your internet speed at speedtest.net

The graphic shows a connection that is using a wireless router so in addition to your internet speed, log on duration and status, you will also see the signal strength. You can get more accurate test by using online

Never mind the connection speed, measure the connection consistency!

Knowing your Internet speed is slow without providing the means to help resolve the problem is of little value.
When discussing Internet connectivity problems the number one complaint is always about speed or the lack of it. End-users relay the same message over and over again, and quite frequently users with Internet service problems are quick to defend their choice of service provider with statements like “But I have a 5 Mbps or a 10 Mbps connection so I shouldn't have jerky video” or “But the speed tester I use says I can run 9 VoIP lines, so why are my VoIP calls often garbled?”
As speed is the prime criteria when users select an Internet service provider, when they are asked “what is the consistency of the service?”, the question is most often met with a puzzled expression along with the retort, “consistency! What do you mean by consistency?”
Speed versus consistency is a crucial issue for measuring bandwidth performance. An example of speed without consistency would be like driving a Ferrari during the heavily congested rush hour — while the capability of high speed exists, the speed is not realized due to other factors.
We all drive on highways and through experience we know only too well that our journey time will not be governed by the maximum speed of our car or the maximum speed of the highway. In reality it will be governed by the many different events that occur on our journey such as weather, congestion, accident backup or highway construction.
Running a speed test that shows a slow throughput without consideration of the event information to help the ISP to identify and resolve inherent performance issues has absolutely no value. Only through careful measurement of every aspect of the end-to-end journey can a speed test really start to benefit the user, and more importantly benefit the service provider by providing the information needed to identify the problem.
In the Internet world there are many different issues that affect how our applications perform. When performance is as we expect we are content, when it is not we get frustrated. Understanding the events that impact your Internet connection along with the consistency of service delivered for your applications is vitally important for the problems to be resolved. In our highway example, if the consistency of the highway service was to be measured by its users, it would be a measure of the highway’s ability to deliver you to your destination in a time that closely matches the time it would take if you were able to sustain the maximum allowed speed. In other words, assuming you are driving as fast as allowed by the legal limit, the calculation of highway consistency would be:

Highway consistency % = Your Speed/maximum allowed highway speed x 100

Slow Downloads and Connection to Content Servers

Is your download actually slow?

• Comparing Steam download speeds to your Internet connection speed:
  
  Internet and other network connection speeds are typically measured in multiples of bits per second. However, Steam downloads, like many other file downloads, are measured in multiples of bytes per second. A byte is a group of 8 bits.
  To compare your Steam download speed to your connection speed, multiply your Steam download speed by 8. For example, if you are getting 768KB/s (kilobytes per second) as your Steam download speed, you are getting 6144Kb/s (kilobits per second) or 6 megabits per second download speed according to most Internet service providers.
  Example download speed conversions
  
  

  Advertised Connection Speed	Est. Max Steam Download Speed
  3 megabits/second	384 KB/S
  5 megabits/second	640 KB/S
  15 megabits/second	1.9 MB/S
  20 megabits/second	2.5 MB/S
  30 megabits/second	3.75 MB/S
  50 megabits/second	6.25 MB/S

• What is your actual Internet connection speed?
  
  The speed displayed in your System Tray or network connection properties is typically the speed you are connected to your local area network (LAN) and does not represent the speed you are connected to the Internet at. Please refer to the materials for your connection plan or contact your Internet service provider (ISP) for information on your connection speed. You can also use one of the numerous speed testing sites available online such as SpeedTest or DSLReports to test your connection speed.
  

Your Broadband Company May Be Holding Your Internet Access Hostage

One of the biggest Internet backbone companies in the world, Level 3, claimed this week that five of the major American consumer broadband providers have been abusing their near-monopoly access to American homes and offices to pad their profits, raise consumer costs and delay enhancements to the high speed lines.
The charge comes just as Congress, the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission are considering a merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable that would make the new company the largest broadband provider in the country.
The big broadband providers “are deliberately harming the service they deliver to their paying customers,” writes Mark Taylor, Level 3′s VP of Content and Media, in a blog post on Monday, who argued that their near-monopoly in local markets was the main factor allowing them to get away with it. “They are not allowing us to fulfill the requests their customers make for content.”
While Taylor did not name the Internet Service Providers at issue in his post, he dropped some hints. “Five of those congested peers are in the United States and one is in Europe,” he writes. “There are none in any other part of the world. All six are large Broadband consumer networks with a dominant or exclusive market share in their local market. In countries or markets where consumers have multiple Broadband choices (like the UK) there are no congested peers.”

How Can I Make Sure I'm Getting the Download Speeds I'm Paying For?

As I understand it, most internet service plans require you to pay for specific upload and download speeds. How can I ensure my internet provider is delivering on the speeds I'm paying for?

Sincerely,
Double Downloading

Dear DD,

Great (and timely) question, and one I'm sure we're all thinking a little bit about now that Google Fiber's insanely fast internet has us all a little jealous. Just last week the FCC revealed that most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) usually meet their advertised speed rates. Of course, just because most ISPs are delivering what they're advertising doesn't mean yours is. The basic process to test your download speeds is something anyone can do. The first step: we need to verify how much you're actually paying for.

Find Out the Speed You're Paying For

The first thing to do is check in with your ISP and see what speed you're paying for (if you don't already

How fast should my Internet connection be to watch streaming HD movies?

Netflix recommends a minimum Internet connection speed of 500kbps if you want to stream movies.

Image courtesy of Netflix

If you checked a dozen different video streaming information Web sites, you'd probably get 12 different suggestions as to how fast your Internet download speed needs to be to watch high definition (HD) video. So what's the correct speed? Let's take a look at the data out there and discover a little more about how your Internet speed relates to streaming HD movies.
First, consider what it means for video to be HD. For a single still image on your screen, high definition refers to having at least 720 lines of pixels on the screen, from top to bottom, making up the image. The upper end of HD is 1,080 lines of pixels. The more pixels you can cram into the same physical space, the more detailed an image you can see on the screen. That increased detail means higher definition.

How fast is my broadband? A guide to upload speed, download speed and how to check it

Were you looking for our home broadband speed test or mobile broadband speed test?
Alongside price, speed is one of the key factors people talk about when it comes to choosing broadband. All of the internet service providers (ISPs) quote the broadband download speed as a key part of their advertising. And then there are upload speeds, megabits and speed tests - but what does it all mean?

Megabits and megabytes

Broadband speed is measured in megabits per second, commonly written as Mb or Mbps (as in 24Mb, or 24Mbps). Make sure you don't get confused between megabits and megabytes (which tends to be written as MB, or GB when referring to gigabytes) - these terms denote memory capacity, not speed.
There are eight bits in a byte, so, if your download speed is eight megabits per second (8Mb), then that's actually shifting 1 megabyte per second (1MB).
It's an important distinction, because file sizes (such as songs, pictures and movie clips) are described in megabytes, as are download allowances. So to recap; its megabits per second (Mb) when talking about broadband speed, and megabytes (MB) - or gigabytes (GB) for large files - when talking about file sizes and download caps.
You may also come across Kb and KB - kilobits and kilobytes - there are 1,024KB in a MB, and 1,024MB in a GB - the same goes for Kb/Mb/Gb. In today's terms though, these are tiny files or very slow speeds!

Download speed

When you connect to the internet, the download speed is the pace at which data (websites, programmes, music etc) is transferred from another source to your device.

Currently, when it comes to home broadband, advertised download speeds range from 8Mb to over 100Mb, but this is rising at a pretty quick rate - you can expect a broadband download speed of between 120Mb and 200Mb to become commonplace in the next few years.
Pretty impressive, as a 2Mb download speed was the common UK standard just a few years ago.
However, broadband download speed doesn't have to be a big factor in your decision on which broadband deal to choose. If you're simply going to be leisurely checking your email and surfing around a few web pages, the slowest packages available through Broadband Genie will comfortably suffice.
That said, if you're going to be sharing the connection between a lot of simultaneous connections, downloading a lot of files, especially large ones, gaming, or listening and watching a lot of streamed content (watching the likes of BBC iPlayer, especially in HD) it will be more of a concern.
A slow internet download speed can become very annoying if your downloads take forever and the video clip you're trying to watch keeps stalling. As a general rule, if you're going to rely on downloading a lot of content, or play a lot of online games, it is definitely worth looking at getting the fastest connection you can comfortably budget for.

How to Maximize the Speed of Your Internet Connection

Are web pages taking longer to load than they used to? Are your download speeds not matching the speed you should be getting? There are a lot of factors involved when it comes to your internet connection. Luckily there's a lot you can do to try to improve your performance, and you could see improvements in just a few minutes.

Part 1 of 3: Checking Your Hardware, Network and Connection

1. • Run a speed test. Before you get down and dirty with your hardware and computer settings, check to see what kind of speeds you are getting and compare that to the advertised speeds for your service. There are a variety of speed test sites on the net, just search for "speed test" in Google and pick the top few results.
   • Different tests will give you different results. Even the same test may give you different results between tests. This is due to the location of test servers and the number of people sharing your connection.
   • Take multiple tests and find the average speed you are getting.
   • You may need to download plugins in order to run the tests.
   • If given the option, pick the test server closest to your physical location. This will help get you the most accurate results.
2. • Compare your results against what you're paying for. Check with your service provider to see what speeds you "should" be getting. Keep in mind that speeds advertised by your provider are "best case" speeds, and you may not be able to actually get that number on a regular basis.
   • If you haven't upgraded your internet in a long time, you may be able to get better speeds for less money. Companies aren't usually keen to inform you of better deals, so check to see if new services are available that weren't when you signed up. Check with all the providers in your area.
   • Be aware of the megabyte/megabit difference. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) advertise in megabits, not megabytes. There are 8 megabits (Mb) in a megabyte (MB), so if you are paying for 25 megabits per second (Mbps), then that's just over 3 megabytes per second (MBps) of actual maximum transfer speed.

Should my Internet service be faster?

Should my Internet Service be Faster?

In our recent post, “Am I getting what I’m paying for?”, we discussed ways to discover if you receive the broadband service that you pay for each month and is advertised by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). In this article, we will take the conversation one step further and explore the question many consumers ask themselves, but don’t know how to answer: “Should my Internet service be faster?” Read on as we discuss some of the reasonable gaps between the service level promised by ISPs and the service you experience, how to perform the most accurate speed tests, how to eliminate barriers between you and your maximum speeds and other techniques that can help you evaluate if your current broadband speeds could be – and should be – faster.
Verify your Speedtest.net Server
When testing your speed, Speedtest.net initially recommends a testing location based on what it thinks is the shortest physical distance between you and one of the servers. However, because the Internet does not operate in direct geographic paths, this recommendation may not be ideal. To get your most accurate result try to find the server that provides the fastest and most consistent results. Pay attention to the latency, or ping time, as a low number is an indicator of a short network distance. More details regarding how to best use Speedtest.net can be found in the help section.

Accounting for Overhead
Aside from network congestion and your personal CPU load, there is also a natural amount of overhead that may account for slower than expected speeds with your broadband service. When data is being transferred across a network, some of it is information required for routing the message and describing the content. This extra data is referred to as overhead and acts like an envelope,

Top 5 Ways to Troubleshoot Your Broadband Internet Connection

There are few things in life as frustrating as an "Address Not Found" message in your Web browser. Timed-out connections, a little red X in your network connection icon, or an "Internet Explorer cannot display the Web page" error screen all add up to the same dismal problem -- something's wrong with your Internet connection.Finding and fixing the problem is never easy, mainly because there are so many places where something can go wrong. We're going to walk you through five relatively easy steps that will solve the majority of broadband Internet connection problems, no matter what kind of Internet service you use. We'll have you up and running, reading celebrity gossip and updating your Facebook status in no time.

 Check the Wires

If you see a red x in your network icon in Windows Vista, your computer might be able to diagnose the problem for you.

Screenshot by Ed Grabianowski

There are few things in life as frustrating as an "Address Not Found" message in your Web browser. Timed-out connections, a little red X in your network connection icon, or an "Internet Explorer cannot display the Web page" error screen all add up to the same dismal problem -- something's wrong with your Internet connection.
Finding and fixing the problem is never easy, mainly because there are so many places where something can go wrong. We're going to walk you through five relatively easy steps that will solve the majority of broadband Internet connection problems, no matter what kind of Internet service you use. We'll have you up and running, reading celebrity gossip and updating your Facebook status in no time.

Why Is My Internet Suddenly So Slow?

Dear Lifehacker,
I have a fast internet connection, but it doesn't always earn the title. Sometimes I get half the speed I pay for during certain times of the day. Other times my upstream connection barely works. I've done all the usual modem resetting tech support always requires but I still have the problem. Any ideas?

Sincerely,
Sporadically Sluggish

Dear SS,
Yes, I have a lot of ideas! Internet connections slow down for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the fault belongs to your internet service provider (ISP) and sometimes you're the culprit. It may be a little bit of both. Let's take a look at some common causes of internet slowdown and get to the bottom of this.

It's Not Your Connection, It's Your Wi-Fi

You have a fast connection, but Wi-Fi can degrade that speed in all sorts of ways. Most people won't enjoy all their bandwidth because Wi-Fi reception usually sucks. There are numerous ways to improve it, but they'll only take you so far. When using the internet wirelessly, you often have to lower your expectations a little bit.

Top 10 Ways to Boost Your Home Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is one of the most useful and important parts of using a computer, and yet it's also one

Let's take a look at what you can expect under ideal circumstances (not the maximum theoretical speeds each wireless technology can provide):

Speed Issues

We are available to help diagnose speed issues by phone.  Since slow Internet speeds can be caused by many factors, we recommend you review the list of factors and suggestions below prior to calling our Customer Care group. Please note that many of these steps may only apply to Windows-basedcomputers, and the steps listed may differ depending on the individual operating system (Windows, Apple) you are using.

1. Please be aware of our Traffic Management Policies as it relates to your service. Xplornet has implemented Traffic Management Policies to try to ensure that each Xplornet customer receives fair and consistent access to the Internet.  For some of our platforms, the Traffic Management Policy includes reductions in speeds if you exceed a certain bandwidth allowance.  Our traffic management policies can be viewed at www.xplornet.com/traffic-management. 
2. Sometimes what seems like slow Internet service is really a slow computer problem. Does your computer need some basic maintenance? Run your disk defragmentation utility, and a virus/malware scan, and empty your recycle bin. An unusually slow Internet connection is often the only sign that your computer is infected with viruses or other issues. Never allow the free space on your C: drive to be less than 10% of the total size. Ensure that programs which you no longer use are uninstalled, particularly an old anti-virus or firewall program. A local computer repair store should be able to help you with this kind of maintenance if you require assistance.

Author: When It Comes To High-Speed Internet, U.S. 'Falling Way Behind'

For an increasing number of Americans, access to high-speed Internet has become an essential part of our lives. We do work, email friends, find restaurants, watch videos and movies, and check the weather. And the Internet is increasingly used for important services, like video medical consults and online education, and is relied upon by businesses for critical operations.
Under a recent court decision, Internet service providers, primarily cable companies, aren't required to treat all websites equally. They can make deals to provide faster service to some, or slow down sites that refuse to pay them extra fees. Law professor Susan Crawford says you may be experiencing the effects of this — without realizing it.
Why, for example, do you have to wait for YouTube videos to buffer? Crawford explains: "You may think it's the YouTube application. You may think there is something wrong with your computer. It's probably the network provider making life unpleasant for YouTube because YouTube has refused to pay in order to cross its wires to reach you. And we'll be seeing much more of that kind of activity in the future."
Crawford, author of Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the Gilded Age, explains how we got to this point. "The [Federal Communications Commission] in the early 2000s really thought that competition would do the job of regulatory oversight — that that would protect Americans," she tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies. The idea was that cable, telephone and wireless companies would battle it out, which would yield low prices for American consumers. "As it turns out, they were wrong and we've come into an era where these markets have consolidated and for most Americans, their only choice for high-speed, high-capacity Internet connection is their local cable monopoly."

FCC approves plan to consider paid priority on Internet

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted in favor of advancing a proposal that could dramatically reshape the way consumers experience the Internet, opening the possibility of Internet service providers charging Web sites for higher-quality delivery of their content to American consumers.
The plan, approved in a three-to-two vote along party lines, could unleash a new economy on the Web where an Internet service provider such as Verizon would charge a Web site such as Netflix for faster video streaming. The proposal would, though, prohibit telecom firms from outright blocking Web sites.
The plan is not a final rule, but the vote on Thursday is a significant step forward on a controversial idea that has invited fierce opposition from consumer advocates, Silicon Valley heavyweights, and Democratic lawmakers. The FCC will now open the proposal to a total 120 days of public comment. Final rules, aimed for the end of the year, could be rewritten after the agency reviews the public comments.
Critics of the plan, as it stands now, worry that it would mark the end of net neutrality, the principle that says that all content online should be treated equally by Internet service providers.