Can startups ride Web ‘fast lanes’?

STAYING NEUTRAL? David Bedard, left, CEO and president of CompNet, with intern Jason Wright and 121 Nexus co-founder Albert Ho. While the net neutrality debate could impact his business, he says a move away from it wouldn’t have made him give up on his company. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
STAYING NEUTRAL? David Bedard, left, CEO and president of CompNet, with intern Jason Wright and 121 Nexus co-founder Albert Ho. While the net neutrality debate could impact his business, he says a move away from it wouldn’t have made him give up on his company. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

Whether it’s enthusiasts arguing in fantasy-football chat rooms, or readers digressing in the comment section of a controversial news item, the Internet is an arena for debate – and anyone with access can join. So, it’s no wonder an issue about the Internet – net neutrality – has become a hotly contested issue.
Net neutrality, sometimes referred to as “open Internet” or “open access,” is the idea that no bit of information should be prioritized over another and no preferential treatment should be given to certain types of traffic.
Practically speaking, if consumers visit Netflix online, the content should be delivered no differently than if consumers visits a newspaper’s website.
The debate of whether this is fair, or realistic, has spilled out of the Internet and into politics, as the Federal Communications Commission weighs whether it should implement more stringent governmental regulations on how the broadband is delivered.
President Barack Obama in November weighed in, urging the commission to reclassify broadband systems as a utility – like the telephone system – under Title II of the Telecommunications Act of 1934, which would give the government more control.
Both supporters and critics of net neutrality, however, claim that if the other is successful, future Internet innovation will be stifled.
Internet-service providers – such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast – argue that too many governmental restrictions could jeopardize future innovation because it would obstruct the upgrading of broadband networks, which startups rely on. AT&T has even suggested entering a lawsuit if the government reclassifies broadband as a utility.
Net neutrality proponents argue that if ISPs can create faster networks, “fast lanes,” for businesses who can afford it, startups will be shut out, or won’t be able to compete within slower – less expensive – networks, “slow lanes.” But for some local innovators – who have started businesses heavily dependent on speedy broadband – net neutrality, or equal access to the Internet, doesn’t weigh heavily on the entrepreneurial spirit.
“People that do startups are risk takers,” said Drew Taylor, when asked whether a move away from net neutrality would dissuade him from starting his company today. “I think I would still do it.”
Taylor is the CEO of AstroPrint, a startup that gives the owners of 3-D printers the ability to wirelessly run, control and monitor printers with smartphones or tablets. AstroPrint, now operating in San Diego, is a portfolio company of Betaspring, the Providence-based accelerator program for technology and design entrepreneurs.
Melissa Withers, Betaspring chief of staff, says you’d be hard-pressed to find a startup in any industry that doesn’t rely on the Internet in some fashion, but she doesn’t see net neutrality – or lack thereof – as something that makes or breaks a fledgling company.
“The startup community has issues larger than net neutrality,” Withers said.
David Bedard, CEO and president of CompNet, has developed an online, real-time quoting and purchasing platform for workers’ compensation insurance. Bedard, with offices in Providence and Boston, has found a way to reduce the number of underwriting questions from 50 to seven and is able to give a quote in less than three minutes, which would be impossible without his content being delivered as fast as possible.
But he agrees with Taylor, saying a move away from net neutrality wouldn’t have made him give up on the company. He says the issue wasn’t even largely on his radar until last May. Timothy Henry, associate professor at the New England Institute of Technology, says ISPs are really focused on the largest content drivers. Two of the world’s largest providers of content, Netflix (35 percent) and YouTube (14 percent), take up nearly 50 percent of all Web traffic, according to a November report from Sandvine, the Canadian provider of equipment for networking.
Referring to Netflix and YouTube traffic, Henry says it’s no mystery why ISPs want to charge more to some companies.
“We’re talking about a whole different level of service,” Henry said. “It’s a different class completely.”
Henry, however, is unnerved by certain aspects of the net neutrality debate and how much power belongs to the ISPs. A 2013 FCC report shows that 18.9 percent of U.S. households only have access to the lowest type of broadband – a 4Mbps connection – and it’s only available through one provider.
Without broadband services existing in a free market, Henry says, consumers and content deliverers will be left without options and at the mercy of ISP monopolies.
Spending a lot of time playing devil’s advocate with his students, Henry says realistically – in the end – there will need to be some sort of compromise between the wishes of ISPs and governmental regulations.
The debate surrounding net neutrality will undoubtedly continue for some time, but Henry isn’t too worried about startups or the future of innovation.
“I’m sure [moving away from net neutrality] will dissuade some [startups], but if you have a good-enough idea, you’ll be able to get the financing,” Henry said. “It’s just changing the playing field. Startups won’t have to change how they’re playing, they’ll just have to change how they’re getting into the game.” •

No posts to display