An important issue in "network neutrality" is the degree to which networks that comprise the Internet may be "managed" by their operators. This paper examines the current costs of unmanaged/neutral network technology and demonstrates that as customer Internet usage patterns evolve and become both more bandwidth-intensive and real-time oriented, a model of pure neutrality would be extremely expensive for consumers. Unmanaged network capacity sufficient to accommodate expected consumer demand growth currently would result in bills between $143 and $416 per month - depending on the customer's level of TV viewing. Such fees would likely make unmanaged/neutral Internet service commercially prohibitive.
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