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Net neutrality refers to packet shaping by source and destination.

QoS refers to packet shaping by type of content.



I don't fully agree with those definitions. ISPs need to be prohibited from preferring HTTP and TCP over other protocols. They should be permitted to perform only the kinds of QoS that will treat two traffic flows with the same data rate and packet sizes equally even if they are using different protocols and port numbers. Overt discrimination rules that specify preferences for certain endpoints or certain types of traffic (as identified by inspecting packets) is wrong, but fair QoS that only considers actual traffic patterns and only operates in the event of actual congestion is beneficial without being harmfully discriminatory.


ISPs need to be prohibited from preferring HTTP and TCP over other protocols

If anything, it would be the reverse.. HTTP and TCP (which doesn't care if its packets arrive out of order) getting deprioritized in the face of streaming content (which does). That kind of blows your restriction away. QoS under heavy load is the difference between everybody getting to use their apps and one or two people getting to use their apps.

Thing is, there's no successful ISP in the world that has enough capacity to service maximum bandwidth from all of their customers at the same time. There's always going to be a fudge factor worked in, and QoS to help out when that goes wrong.


Out of order delivery is a complete red herring. Modern QoS systems don't cause packet re-ordering, though they do cause some re-transmits for flows that don't support ECN and thus need packet loss as a congestion signal. Video streaming like Netflix and YouTube has buffering far in excess of the RTT, so retransmissions don't hurt noticeably.

But you're still missing the main point, which is that good QoS doesn't need rules that single out and privilege or deprioritize any specific classes of traffic. Discrimination rulesets are obsolete. A network with good AQM at points of potential congestion will support full bandwidth utilization with sufficiently low latency for applications like VoIP and gaming, which can coexist alongside video streaming and bulk file transfers. QoS can be both effective and neutral with respect to content type and transport and destination.

Bad obsolete QoS shouldn't be used as an argument against net neutrality regulations. If it happens that net neutrality regulations both prohibit unfair business practices and require ISPs to fix broken congestion management, that's a good thing.




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