Coming: Internet Surcharges?

Some of the big telcos—the dinosaurs who wired the earth for the Internet—want to start charging extra for the speedy delivery of bandwidth-intensive goods and services.

That would mean a possible surcharge on things like movies on demand. High-quality audio. VoIP. High-res Google Maps. You get the idea.

According to this January 6 Wall Street Journal piece, Bell South has been talking with MovieLink LLC, a streaming movie company about such a plan. Other name brands that could be hit up are such fan favorites as Vonage and (gasp) Google.

This will no doubt raise a yelp of protest. The fat-content purveyors will screech that customers will be charged again for bandwidth they've already paid for. On the other hand, one could argue that Google, for example, made its fortune using what is essentially a public utility to ferry information around. Could it be that Google has not paid its fair share of the freight?

This notion has been floating around for awhile. The first time I heard explicit mention of it was at the Harvard Cyberposium in November, when a panel member—somewhat gleefully—said that these new-age companies will get a taste of real world when the bill comes due. I should remember who it was but hell, it was Saturday MORNING people!

Google's argument will likely be that the cost of preferred Web distribution will have to be borne by the customers downloading, not by a search engine company.

Are we headed for a world of still more tiered pricing? More importantly will my cable bill, already in excess of $120 go higher. What do you think?

Send your thoughts to [email protected].