My understanding is this:
The argument against Net Neutrality, turning the internet into a public utility, is that it will stifle innovation. The example Beans used was to point out land line telephone (those big ass wooden sticks int he ground) haven’t advanced in decades. The cost to invest in new infrastructure is too greater for a municipality so they just wait for a telephone poll to break and replace as needed. That’s not exactly amazing… That said, telephone technology itself hasn’t been stifled. Cell phones, VO-IP, etc… were all invented after telephones became a public utility. So, I’m not sure how much water the argument holds.
On the other hand, most municipalities have contracts (there’s a specific term, but I can’t think of it off the top of my head) that grants an ISP a monopoly in that location. It’s why you probably only have access to Comcast or Time Warner or whatever cable company controls that area. There isn’t really a “free market” when it comes to cable ISP and I think that’s a problem in and of itself. It’s actually a very good example of how M&A can lead to a Monopoly (http://fortune.com/2015/05/19/cable-industry-becomes-a-monopoly/). If you have a problem with Comcast, tough shit… That’s your choice. Most areas (outside of cities) might have a single cable provider (if you’re lucky) and a DSL choice (garbage).
I’m not sure if the same is true for Fiber (Verizon, Google, etc…) or DSL (snail internet).
That said, and the argument I tried to make with Beans, was that if I pay $X.XX for cable with a speed of X (I use Comcast Blast. I don’t remember the “guaranteed” speeds, but it’s supposed to be fast, lol…) it shouldn’t matter how I utilize the internet. In other words, whether I stream Netflix, browse the news, or just want to check my email, and should be able to do that without throttling (or monthly caps, imo). Where as, the people against neutrality want to be able to charge companies like Netflix more because their product demands more of the data / infrastructure. I can see that argument too, but my understanding is that is more related to contract negotiations between ISPs, third party companies like 3M, and a service like Netflix.
It’s all pretty confusing really… Plus, there’s other interests like TV that are involved because streaming services like Netflix are dominating cable in terms of viewership.