Doesn't "network neutrality" beg for the same political favours game as the telcos are already playing and winning? Either the end-user has to come to own or control the first hop via some alternative means of ownership, or you unbundle and allow real competition. Also, if Verizon et al are going to reap such usurious profits from their natural monopolies on FIOS etc, why isn't anyone else rushing in to pre-empt them and lay their glass first? Given a potential multiplicity of EVDO and WiMax like networks, most of the user needs for basic connectivity (Web, IM, email etc) are covered by multiple technologies and bags of competition. IPTV will continue to have to compete against free-to-air TV and satellite with fixed scaling for a subset of the content delivery. Is the monster in the dark closet really as horrible as our imagination makes us believe?