ISPs Should Do The Job They Are Hired to Do

[Commentary] Since people rely on the Internet for such a wide range of services today, it's important that their Internet connections work well. This means that people should be able to access the broadband services of their choice using the connections they pay for--and those services should be fast, reliable, and low-latency.

To some extent, this means that consumer Internet service providers (ISPs) need to do what it takes to make sure the popular services their customers demand--the reason they subscribe to broadband to begin with--work well. This is not about an ISP looking into the traffic a customer has requested (or is sending upstream) and giving it differential treatment. It's one level higher, and it's about whether an ISP will connect with other networks on the Internet in a way that's designed to enhance its customers' experiences, or in a way that is motivated by business interests that do not align with those of the customer. In some sense, to a customer, these are distinctions without a difference. All that matters to a customer is whether she can access the Internet and use the services she wants to use without having to know the details of what makes it all work. But ISPs should always remember that they are paid by their customers to provide Internet access and that they have a positive responsibility to make the experience a good one.