What is Net Neutrality & why it is important

Every where you go in offices, class rooms, parks, friends' home etc you would saw people discussing about the Net Neutrality. There are some asking for what does it mean by net neutrality and the others emphasizing the importance of neutrality. So I decided to write here about the Net Neutrality so who don't know about it get a idea and also got know why this is the talk of town in India.

Net Neutrality means that as an internet user you can access any website/blog videos etc online without any kind of discrimination with the same internet speed. Contrary to it there are some examples you may have observed in India that some websites are opening very quickly on your mobile internet other takes hell of time. May your telecom offering you special packages for special websites, etc.

Some big companies had deal with the telecom companies as Flipkart etc and their websites are very easy to open on the specific network and also low data charged on these website as compare to other websites. Due to this users were forced to use only few websites which is against the net neutrality. Now we Indians are demanding that we need complete net neutrality and we have the right to choose the websites which we want to use not our telecom provider would decide it for us.

came across this article recently, that gives a different perspective:

I was one of the few people in Delhi who used dial up internet back in those days when that article talks about. That article has a flawed view of what is about to happen. If for example I am a big corporation who also creates content then I can be a sole point of contact for millions of people who would use free internet but only to access my content and no one elses. It would be a serious blow to new startups and innovation.

I personally dont mind this because I would profit from the situation in either case but the general consumer who does not understand the complex nature of this business will be at loss.

yes, the author i think may not be well acquainted with how disadvantageous could be the proposition being put forward by the companies for the common net-users, or perhaps he's not very amused seeing the over-zealousness of some people and the hullabaloo surrounding the issue. but the article and esp. Andresseen's tweets make me want to know the companies' PoV too, however flawed it may seem. i though have stayed away from this issue till now. pessimistic, sadistic, foolish, whatever it may seem on my part, but if not companies have their way, i would really want this overdose & mania of touchscreen and net and social networking et al to be curtailed anyhow, one way or the other. riles me up bigtime seeing those 'neeche mundi paataal dhundhi' and selfie & texting-junkies everywhere, so much so that i really appreciate any and everyone seemingly 'heroically' out of the clutches of such fads. would want to see more such non-bots, who are not dug up in their toys esp. when their attention is needed somewhere else!



but alas! i guess only something terrible like say an apocalypse could arrest this epidemic.

Even though we may talk about net neutrality and how big companies tries to exploit by tying up with internet service provider, this cannot stopped. The government may make this illegal, but still we cannot stop what goes behind the back door.

Yes, lack of net neutrality could be a serious blow to the common people as they have to pay high for common websites that they use daily. That would be an insane way to extract money from them. I think TRAI is going to come up with the final guidelines on net neutrality by early 2016. Let's hope for the best.

But as mentioned by @Vinaya, even though net neutrality remain valid in papers, we never know what happens int he background because it is the big companies that actually control the Internet. They can do anything they like without our knowledge. They know how to play the game for their own benefit.