MET CS 535 Computer Networks

1.Discuss the changes that have taken place in the field of telecommunications (especially wireless).

 

2.Write an essay discussing network neutrality. Explore the issues that this topic brings to light.

 

1: Telecommunications and Networks

Exchange of information by way of any electronic or electrical means that takes place over a significant distance is called as telecommunications such as Telephones, microwave communication, internet facilities, telegraph facility, fiber optics, etc. Telecom is the common name of telecommunications (Technopedia, 2017). Telecommunication has made it easy to transfer and receive any kind of information without any barrier of time or distance.

Telecommunications related technology has made significant changes in the field of telecommunication manufacturing industries as well as  telecommunication services industries and, it will continue to bring significant changes in the future also (Inose, 2017). There are certain sets of rules called as telecommunication protocols that look after the process of digital exchange of information between two identities working at a certain distance. The different types of protocols includes PSTN protocol that is related to telephonic communication protocol, data communication protocol as well as cellular communication protocol and the voice over internet protocol commonly called as VoIP (Abdullah, 2017).

Telecommunication has been revolutionized tremendously in the past years. And the technology is still bringing new changes to telecommunications. The telecommunication sector is presently in the phase of wireless communication, but earlier, it has undergone through many phases like, the twisted pair wire period, then the coaxial cable, then the next phase was fiber optic cable phase which was very famous, the next phase that came in the field of telecommunication was the broadband over power lines phase and after this came, the revolutionary phase that is the wireless phase.  Wireless communication facility with the help of internet facility is bringing many new changes in the telecommunication sector that was never dreamt by anyone in the past. The wireless transfer of information includes the three frequency set ranges that are radio frequency, microwave frequency and the infrared frequency. There has been revolution in the field of wireless telecommunication as well, there are different phases in the wireless telecommunication and that are short range wireless options, medium range wireless options and the wide area wireless network options.  The short range wireless option includes Near Field Communication (NFC). This short range wireless technology has been developed specifically for cell phones and credit cards. This technology is used by the consumers to pay for their purchases via credit cards or cell phones in the range of point of sale terminals. The other important short range wireless technology is the Bluetooth. It has the capability of connecting cell phones or computers, printers as well as any personal digital assistants to interconnect at a distance of 10 to 30 feet from each other with the sharing rate of 2 mbps. The other developments in the short range include Ultra Wideband, Zigbee and the infrared transmission.  The next in line is the Medium Range Wireless Options, which includes Wi-Fi system. It is a wireless telecommunication technology that has been developed by 300 technology companies. Wi-Fi wireless technology uses an antenna that uses radio signal and transmits the data to a user's computers or smart phones, and has a wireless adapter that translates the data. Today, Wi-Fi has become very famous and can be seen nearly everywhere around us in hotels, railway stations, airports, schools, colleges, etc. Then in line is the Wide Area Wireless Network Options. Satellites, microwave transmissions, 3G, 4G as well as the WiMAX provides wide area network. So, it is clear that the wireless telecommunication has experienced great changes in the last many years (Agrawal, 2017).

If we talk about the future of telecommunication, it can easily be said that it is definitely going to change as and when a new technology is invented. The telecommunication needs some restructuring so that they can integrate with the global computing services without being disturbed.  By seeing at the trend of development in the telecommunications it can be said that the telecommunication sector is going to shift from a craft- based approach of designing the network operations to a more science- based approach (Geddes, 2017).

 Even the wireless telecommunication is approaching towards 5G mobile system and is aimed to be achieved  by 2020 according to the IMT-2020 Resolution that has been approved (Groenendaal, 2015).

2: Net Neutrality

Internet has revolutionized the way we work or even how we think. Internet is been used in every aspect of life today such as, it is used for education purpose for communication purpose, to acquire any knowledge or any kind of information and many activities other than this are fulfilled by the internet today (Haltiwanger, 2015). The guiding principles of internet are called net neutrality. Net neutrality is the preserver of the right of people to communicate easily online. Net neutrality takes care of people's basic right and protects them from any discrimination. It ensures that the internet service providers provide people the facility of open network, and these service providers should not block any specific applications or content or should avoid any kind of discrimination. If there is no net neutrality then, the internet service providers can slow the content of its competitors or can block any opinions that the service provider did not agree with. Even the service providers can charge for specific content according to their wish. So, it is very important that in order to avoid any such discrepancies, net neutrality should always prevail and protect the internet and its content (Free press, 2017).

Without net neutrality the internet will not be that internet that we have seen and experienced since ages. If net neutrality is not there, then the internet will become a closed down network, what we see, which websites we open, what content can we access will all be regulated by the internet service providers, and a mass discrimination will take place in the society and people will not get the right of free speech which today's internet provides with. This will give power in the hands of few like Comcast, Verizon, etc. and they will become the decision makers that who should be heard and who should not be heard. The few major service providers will rule the internet according to their own choice and depending upon their own favoritism. Net neutrality is a major issue because, if net neutrality is not there them the activists will not be heard and they will not be in a condition to fight against any kind of oppression. Any social movements will not prove to be successful. So, this is a very big issues and this is a topic on which the fight between the governments as well as service providers is going on (Free press, 2017).

If net neutrality is discontinued, then the large companies like for example Google, Facebook etc., will bribe the service providers to provide faster access to their websites against their competitor's websites. Recently, there was a big issue related to the Free Basics offered by the Facebook which was against the rules of net neutrality (Public Knowledge, 2017).

Net neutrality allows the freedom of expression, it also supports user choices as well as prevents against any kind of discrimination (Internet Society, 2017).

The people who oppose net neutrality say that Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is just meddling around the groundwork related to free market on the basis of which the modern internet was founded.  The opponents of net neutrality also say that if net neutrality is discontinued then it will benefit the people by providing them with fast lane rather than creating any problem to people.

It is difficult to decide on the topic of net neutrality if one thinks of the utilitarian approach of ethics. By considering one side, it can be said that if net neutrality is preserved, it will benefit majority of the people though on a short -term scale, but still, chances of discrimination by major service providers will be avoided.  On the other hand, we can say that net neutrality should be discontinued as it will open the gate for more fast and free web, and will also open the gates for new developments and take the facility of internet to new levels by providing promising speed and taking the websites to new levels.

So, there is a need for a decision that is a mixture of factors that satisfies both the supporters as well as the opponents of the net neutrality concept (Grayson, 2014).

References

Abdullah, S. (2017, may 23). Telecommunications protocol. Retrieved may 23, 2017, from itstillworks.com: http://itstillworks.com/telecommunication-protocols-8509890.html

Agrawal, T. (2017, may 23). Different Types of Wireless Communication with Applications. Retrieved may 23, 2017, from elprocus.com: https://www.elprocus.com/types-of-wireless-communication-applications/

Free press. (2017, may 22). Net Neutrality: What You Need to Know Now. Retrieved may 22, 2017, from savetheinternet.com: https://www.savetheinternet.com/net-neutrality-what-you-need-know-now

Geddes. (2017, may 23). The future of telecoms. Retrieved may 23, 2017, from martingeddes.com: http://www.martingeddes.com/think-tank/the-future-of-telecoms/

Grayson, A. S. (2014, nov 21). THE ETHICS AND ISSUES INVOLVED IN NET NEUTRALITY. Retrieved may 22, 2017, from rampages.us: https://rampages.us/graysonas/the-ethics-and-issues-involved-in-net-neutrality/

Groenendaal, H. v. (2015, nOV 15). The future of wireless communications. Retrieved MAY 23, 2017, from mybroadband.co.za: https://mybroadband.co.za/news/wireless/145159-the-future-of-wireless-communications.html

Haltiwanger, J. (2015, feb 26). Why Net Neutrality Is The Most Important Issue For This Generation. Retrieved may 22, 2017, from elitedaily.com: http://elitedaily.com/news/politics/net-neutrality-important-issue-generation/948800/

Inose, H. (2017, may 23). Technological Advances and Challenges in the Telecommunications Sector. Retrieved may 23, 2017, from nap.edu: https://www.nap.edu/read/1101/chapter/8

Internet Society. (2017, may 22). Net Neutrality. Retrieved may 22, 2017, from internetsociety.org: http://www.internetsociety.org/net-neutrality

Public Knowledge. (2017, may 22). Net Neutrality. Retrieved may 22, 2017, from publicknowledge.org: https://www.publicknowledge.org/issues/net-neutrality

Technopedia. (2017, may 23). What is telecommunication. Retrieved may 23, 2017, from technopedia.com: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/5570/telecommunications