FCC and Verizon: There is a technical solution

[Commentary] A minor media brouhaha erupted when Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler sent a letter to Verizon about the company’s disclosure of its intent to manage traffic for the heaviest users of its unlimited mobile plan for certain cell sites at times of peak congestion.

Before resorting to rules that can impose unintended negative consequences, it makes sense to investigate some technical solutions. This problem can be minimized with improved video encoding and can address what is two-thirds of fixed internet traffic and 40% of mobile traffic: real time entertainment.

[Layton is researcher at the University of Aalborg, Denmark]