Wireless companies protest net neutrality rules by... having a car show?

As we have discussed on a number of occasions, wireless carriers are against any net neutrality rules being put in place by the FCC. Just last week, AT&T officials met with the FCC to argue that they should be able to have Internet “fast lanes.”

Now, wireless companies are fighting back by having a car show. According to InTheCapital, executives from AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, Ericsson and other telecom companies put together this car show to prove how net neutrality rules could affect the “emerging smart car market.”

According to the wireless companies, they need the freedom to control data flows to and from the cars in a way that would be difficult if net neutrality rules about Internet access were to expand to include the wireless spectrum. – InTheCapital

There is a reason that wireless companies have struggled so mightily with expanding broadband connectivity in automobiles in the last decade. Whether it is clunky car GUI’s or absurdly high prices, the amount of people paying for another data plan in the automobile is not increasing at a high rate.

AT&T’s Glenn Lurie insisted last year that it made “perfect sense” to add your automobile to your existing shared data plan. Of course it does. As Karl Bode notes, AT&T loves the idea of their customers contributing as much as possible towards their household data allotment so that they can collect as much money from their $15 per gigabyte overages.

Until carriers come to realize that consumers already pay a significant amount for a home and mobile broadband connection, the number of those eager to pay even more money for additional connectivity with usage caps in their car will struggle to catch on.