77
Avoiding that statutory contradiction not only assures
consistent regulatory treatment of mobile broadband across
Titles II and III, but it also assures consistent regulatory
treatment of mobile broadband and fixed broadband, in
furtherance of the Commission’s objective that “[b]roadband
users should be able to expect that they will be entitled to the
same Internet openness protections no matter what technology
they use to access the Internet.” 2015 Open Internet Order,
30 FCC Rcd. at 5638 ¶ 92. When consumers use a mobile
device (such as a tablet or smartphone) to access the internet,
they may establish a connection either through mobile
broadband or through a Wi-Fi connection at home, in the
office, or at an airport or coffee shop. Such Wi-Fi
connections originate from a landline broadband connection,
which is now a telecommunications service regulated as a
common carrier under Title II. If a consumer loses her Wi-Fi
connection for some reason while accessing the internet—
including, for instance, if she walks out the front door of her
house, and thus out of Wi-Fi range—her device could switch
automatically from a Wi-Fi connection to a mobile broadband
connection. If mobile broadband were classified as a private
mobile service, her ongoing session would no longer be
subject to common carrier treatment. In that sense, her
mobile device could be subject to entirely different regulatory
rules depending on how it happens to be connected to the
internet at any particular moment—which could change from
one minute to the next, potentially even without her
awareness.
The Commission’s decision to reclassify mobile
broadband as a commercial mobile service prevents that
counterintuitive outcome by assuring consistent regulatory
treatment of fixed and mobile broadband. By contrast, if
mobile broadband—despite the public’s “rapidly growing and
virtually universal use” of the service today, id. at 5786
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