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Chapter 6 The Cloud
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Network 3
You in Minneapolis
New Zealand Hotel

Your LAN Network 4 Hotel’s LAN
Network 1
Network 2
Internet Internet
Service Service
Provider Provider
The Internet

Figure 6-7
Using the Internet for a Hotel
Reservation
Carriers and Net Neutrality

As your message, or packet, moves across the Internet, it passes through networks owned by
large telecommunication providers known as carriers. Some of these large carriers include
Sprint, AT&T, Verizon Business, and XO Communications. These large carriers exchange traffic
freely without charging each other access fees via peering agreements. Carriers make revenue by
collecting subscription fees from end users, but not from peers.
The problem with peering is that some people use more bandwidth than others. Netflix, for
example, accounts for about 33 percent of all Internet traffic in North America between 9:00 PM
3
and 12:00 AM. Carriers argue that they should be able to charge varying rates based on content,
application, or the user requesting the data.
Netflix, eBay, Yahoo!, and Amazon.com say this could hurt consumers and innovation. They
believe in the net neutrality principle, where all data is treated equally. They argue that carriers
should not be allowed to decide which sites load quickly, which apps are allowed on a network, and
which content is acceptable.
In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved new net neutrality
regulations that ensure ISPs cannot discriminate between different types of Internet traf-
fic. This means all consumers would have access to content on an equal basis. This ruling
in many ways renders the Internet a utility like water or electricity that would be governed
by comparable regulations. Several large carriers have already begun fighting these new
regulations in court.

Internet Addressing

Just like regular surface mail, every location on the Internet needs an address. For reasons
beyond this discussion, an Internet address is called an IP address, which is a number that
identifies a particular device. Public IP addresses identify a particular device on the public
Internet. In order to get on the Internet, every device must have access to a public IP address.
Because public IP addresses must be unique, worldwide, their assignment is controlled by
a public agency known as ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers).
Private IP addresses identify a particular device on a private network, usually on a LAN.
Their assignment is controlled within the LAN, usually by a LAN device like the one shown in
Figure 6-5. When you sign on to a LAN at a coffee shop, for example, the LAN device lends you a
private IP address to use while you are connected to the LAN. When you leave the LAN, it reuses
that address.