WASHINGTON-The Senate Commerce Committee seemed cool to the idea that broadband-pipe owners should be able to require some bandwidth hogs like Voice over Internet Protocol providers Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. to pay to access their broadband pipes.
“I think the refrain of this committee ought to keep the Internet free,” said Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.).
The hearing came on the same day that the Washington Post ran a story quoting a Verizon Communications Inc. executive saying that Google is getting a “free lunch” and is “free loading” on the investments the Bell and cable companies made to build their high-speed networks.
“It is not a free lunch. I have already paid the toll,” said Dorgan.
After the hearing, a Verizon representative stressed to reporters that its current business model would not limit access to Google or other such companies.
While Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) agreed that the Internet should remain free, he said he was worried that Congress would prematurely legislate in the area. The issue is generally referred to as “network neutrality.”
In addition to Google, which appeared at the hearing to call for network neutrality, Vonage Holdings Corp. said its VoIP service has been blocked. One of the carriers that blocked Vonage last year was wireless broadband service provider Clearwire Corp. Vonage was forced to come up with a work-around solution to get around Clearwire’s technical blocking.
A network-neutrality rule would likely prohibit this type of blocking.
The network-neutrality hearing is one of several being held by the Senate Commerce Committee as it examines the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The act celebrates its 10-year anniversary Wednesday.
The House of Representatives wants to rewrite the telecom act sooner rather than later. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said the Senate Commerce Committee would wait until the end of the hearings-slated to end in March-before considering any rewrite legislation.
