The Supreme Court is currently debating whether or not to repeal legislation protecting net neutrality. If this happens, students could see increases in subscription prices to services such as Netflix and Hulu.

What is net neutrality?

“Net neutrality means that when you go to a site and you’re streaming content, it all flows to you at about the same rate,” said Gregory Pitts, department chair for communications. “So if you watch a movie and you have Comcast as your provider, content from xfinity would flow to you at about the same speed as content from Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime instant video.”

What will happen if net neutrality is repealed?

“What could happen if we eliminate net neutrality is that the people who own the (internet connections) would say to all those video providers that if they want to ensure that their subscribers watch content in the fastest possible way, they’re going to have to pay them a certain amount every month because they provide the roadway through which the internet travels,” Pitts said.

If this happens, Internet users will have to pay more, Pitts said.

“The elimination of net neutrality would mean that people like Netflix would pay a little bit to ensure that you could watch their content at a fast speed,” Pitts said. “What that of course would mean is that they would eventually raise your rate for your monthly subscription fee.”

However, paying more will not guarantee faster service.

“If your download speed is fast, but (the Internet company) imposed a block on some other content provider, then your download speed is probably not going to be giving you the performance that you want,” Pitts said.

Is it likely this could be repealed?

The Supreme Court is currently deciding whether or not net neutrality is fair to the Internet providers, Pitts said.

“It will all wind up eventually being settled before the Supreme Court,” Pitts said. “Bottom line, net neutrality hasn’t been struck down. The Supreme Court hasn’t looked at it and hasn’t made a decision on it yet.”

What do students think?

Having to pay more without net neutrality doesn’t guarantee high speed content for what you want to see, which makes it illogical, said junior Briana Harris.

“Maybe there’s something I want to watch more, but the company is making it slower because it’s a less popular show,” Harris said. “There could be a website I want to use or something I want to watch, and even though I’m paying more, it still isn’t working as fast as it should. Companies don’t necessarily know what you would want to watch.”

Jamal Kennedy, a freshman, said he does not want an Internet provider determining the speed he receives content.

“What gives an Internet provider the right to slow down our service for any reason?” Kennedy said. “Someone might not have extra money to pay or might not want to pay extra for the speed they are already paying for to be delivered. They shouldn’t be able to control how fast our Internet works if we pay for a certain speed.”