AT&T’s net neutrality position

Over at Save the Internet a contributor explains the evolution of AT&T’s net neutrality position. In the old days, before the internet and cheap long distance calls, a few phone companies controlled all the nations telephone wires. They could charge you $2 a minute to call your sister in Bakersfield, Calif., or your Aunt in Maine. But then Congress said, no more. From now on phone companies will have to share their wires with third party long distance carriers. Companies like AT&T seized on this, dramatically driving down the cost of long distance by using Bell’s network to offer cheap long distance calls.

Now, however, after their merger with Bell, AT&T owns the wires that bring you telephone service and the internet and suddenly they are not so keen about having to share them with other service providers. They don’t want to be told what to do with them.

TagsAT&T