Net Neutrality and Monopolies

Obviously net neutrality is a hot topic right now since the concept is getting so much press and so much attention from our government.

I’m not sure that legislation is the solution to a problem we don’t yet have. But I do think that we have a problem with monopolistic and non-innovative practicies in the telco and cable industries.

But here’s my question. If we leave things as is (free market), and one provider individually starts charging content providers more for certain priority data rates, won’t that content provider decide to abandon the one network that’s charging them extra?

And if you suddenly found out you coudln’t get to Google, The New York Times, Cnet, or Yahoo! through your internet connection, wouldn’t you go looking for a service where you could?

So if one company tries to charge unfairly, then the other (three, I think) immediately and tangibly benefit from the mistake.

But if all three companies simultaneously enact similar policies, isn’t that price fixing, which is monopolistic, which is illegal already?

Maybe I’m missing something.