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<\/a><\/p>\nPersonally, I thought these were excellent steps towards accelerating “Digital India”.\u00a0What’s not to like about free Internet, right? However, the blogosphere is abuzz with accusations that the moves by Reliance and Uninor violate Net Neutrality (click here<\/strong><\/a> and here<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n Without judging that view, my first reaction was, so what?\u00a0Firstly, Net Neutrality is not a law.\u00a0Secondly, it seems like a First World Problem when many ISPs and MNOs in India are brazenly breaking their contractual obligations on uptime and speed of Internet connectivity.<\/p>\n So joining the debate on the principle of Net Neutrality seemed to be a waste of time.\u00a0However, when I found some of the practical issues raised by the proponents of Net Neutrality totally lacking merit, I decided to jump in.<\/p>\n According to the Net Neutrality camp:<\/p>\n Here’s my take on each of them.<\/p>\n We’re already paying for content. I pay top dollar for not one or two but three different Internet plans because not even one of them is reliable enough. I struggle with slow speeds and high downtime on all three of them. Forget about the theory of equal and unencumbered access to all content, I can’t access a lot of content even after paying for access in practice.<\/p>\n Therefore, the new moves from Reliance, Uninor et al<\/em>\u00a0is a big improvement over\u00a0my current situation. With their plans, I’ll get some content for free and I can still choose to access non-free content by paying for it. That sounds like empowering the consumer with a greater choice of their Internet provider. Ergo #ProNetChoice<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Only time will tell whether #ProNetChoice will deliver faster speeds and lower downtime but I’m reasonably sure that I’ll get at least the same content as from my three paid plans put together and for a lower cost. In other words, #ProNetChoice delivers more value for money.<\/p>\n\n