Broadband shouldn’t be like cable TV. Why consumers should care about peering.

[Commentary] When you’re curled up on the couch, set to watch the second season of Orange is the New Black, and the video stream pixelates or just stops, it’s the modern-day equivalent of the “all circuits are busy now” message one can still hear on landline phones (or one could, if people were calling on them).

And the issues behind both problems are similar -- somewhere in the network there is too much demand and not enough capacity. But unlike the days of landline phones, when one industry controlled the calling experience (telephone companies that were forced by FCC regulations to connect calls on their networks), our broadband networks and the internet itself is controlled by varied industries and there are no rules around interconnections.

This is why we’re seeing Netflix and various ISPs battling it out in the press. The only broadband that matters is the broadband you have access to at your home. In most places, that’s not a competitive market. And with fights over interconnection agreements and the possibility that network neutrality transforms into paying for priority access, consumers get screwed again.

Take it from me. Having a bunch of bad choices is like having no choice at all.