Some Lawrence Internet service providers are warning that businesses and individuals may end up paying more for slower service under rules being considered by the Federal Communications Commission.

The rules would drastically alter — and some say do away with — what has been known as “net neutrality,” or the “open Internet.” That refers to the idea that all content on the Internet travels at the same speed, from the smallest individual blog to giants such as Netflix and YouTube.

But under rules the FCC proposed this month, Internet service providers, or ISPs, such as Comcast and AT&T would be allowed to create so-called “fast lanes” and charge higher fees to content providers to get access into those lanes.

“It’s a pretty substantial change in the way the Internet works,” said Josh Montgomery, who owns Wicked Broadband in Lawrence. “They’re basically moving toward a cable television model where you pay your local provider and they negotiate with content providers for all the different channels. It leads to stupid things like content bundling where you’re forced to pay for access to sites and services you don’t want because their deal with Comcast or whoever forces them to.”

The FCC proposed the new rules in response to a federal appeals court ruling that struck down existing rules that prohibit ISPs from deliberately slowing down traffic from certain sites or discriminating against certain providers.

The FCC says its proposed new rules, which it calls “Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet,” would continue to prevent those things, but would also allow ISPs to enter into separate contracts and charge higher fees to some websites in exchange for moving their traffic through the fast lanes.

“It has potential to slow it down all over the country, and potentially all over the world,” Montgomery said. “If you think of your Internet connection as a highway, it’s only got so many lanes. If some traffic pays extra to get into the fast lanes, all the rest of the traffic gets shoved into the other lanes. It allows them to basically decide which Internet services are going to work well for customers and which ones won’t.”

Education and local governments

Small ISPs like Wicked Broadband essentially buy bandwidth from upstream providers and resell it to their customers. As a result, Montgomery said, his company is at the mercy of the larger upstream providers, including Comcast and AT&T, which control large portions of the total market.

But that’s not the case with larger public institutions in Lawrence, including Kansas University, the Lawrence school district, the city of Lawrence and Douglas County. They receive Internet service through a non-profit provider known as KanREN, the Kansas Research and Education Network, which is headquartered in Lawrence.

Cort Buffington, executive director of KanREN, said the proposed rules would likely have little impact on their customers.

“By maintaining lots of different upstream connections, our community has a nationwide backbone,” he said. “One of the ways we combat this is that we have direct interconnection with most major content providers. … We have access to Netflix that doesn’t have to go through those providers.”

Still, officials at the Lawrence school district say they’re keeping a close eye on the FCC’s process. That’s because the district is spending about $6.5 million in bond proceeds to enhance wireless technology as local schools shift to a “blended learning” model that will rely heavily on online educational content – the kind of content that may not get access into the fast lanes.

“Our virtual school delivers a robust online curriculum to students, our blended classroom initiative relies on Internet-based services to deliver content and curriculum to our brick and mortar students, and our teachers use several other Internet-based programs with students on a daily basis,” said Jerri Kemble, head of the district’s educational technology programs. The new rules could put the schools in a slower lane on the Internet highway, she said.

The FCC is accepting public comment through Sept. 10 on its proposed new Internet rules. People can submit comments online through the FCC’s website: www.fcc.gov/comments. The proceeding number is 14-28.