Pai says:

“We are helping consumers and promoting competition,” Mr. Pai said in a speech before the vote. “Broadband providers will have more incentive to build networks, especially to underserved areas.”

The New York Times reports on his record :

In his first 11 months as chairman, he has lifted media ownership limits, eased caps on how much broadband providers can charge business customers and cut back on a low-income broadband program that was slated to be expanded to nationwide carriers.

I don't think there is a single member of the Trump Administration who knows what he (or she) is talking about. Either that or they lie deliberately.

Here is Pai's statement from April.

What it may mean for you:

Many consumer advocates have argued that if the rules get scrapped, broadband providers will begin selling the internet in bundles, not unlike how cable television is sold today. Want to access Facebook and Twitter? Under a bundling system, getting on those sites could require paying for a premium social media package.

In some countries, internet bundling is already happening. In October, Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, posted a screenshot on Twitter from a Portuguese mobile carrier that showed subscription plans with names like Social, Messaging and Video. He wrote that providers were “starting to split the net.”

The internet will be split into fast and slow lanes. Where do you think you'll end up? According to the Times:

Another major concern is that consumers could suffer from pay-to-play deals. Without rules prohibiting paid prioritization, a fast lane could be occupied by big internet and media companies, as well as affluent households, while everyone else would be left on the slow lane.

This vote is bad for consumers. AT&T Inc, Comcast and Verizon will control the keys to the internet kingdom, along with Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft. They will decide what you can access, what you must pay and how quickly your service will work. They will work together for their benefit, not our benefit.

Some argue the internet has long been dying a slow death.

The five most valuable American companies — Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft — control much of the online infrastructure, from app stores to operating systems to cloud storage to nearly all of the online ad business. A handful of broadband companies — AT&T, Charter, Comcast and Verizon, many of which are also aiming to become content companies, because why not — provide virtually all the internet connections to American homes and smartphones.

Together these giants have carved the internet into a historically profitable system of fiefs. They have turned a network whose very promise was endless innovation into one stuck in mud, where every start-up is at the tender mercy of some of the largest corporations on the planet.

I am not so much worried about startups as I am about ultimate consumers. Personally, I think wi-fi destroyed the value of the internet. I am back to using ethernet cables at home because as ugly as they are, its so much faster than wi-fi. It's so frustrating that even with speeds of more than 100 Mbps, almost every site hangs because of videos and ads. I think there's been throttling going on for a long time.

The privacy intrusion on the internet (regardless of whether your network is secured) is atrocious. It's far too difficult to turn off targeted ads that are based on your internet use. Pretty soon I'll be back to buying print newspapers and paying my bills by mail. Reading books on an e-reader is soul-less. As for email, years when I checked it every hour. Now, except for my Court accounts for work, I open my email every 3 days or so.

Smart phones are also way overrated. I have so many features turned off, I might as well go back to a Motorola flip phone.

But what's really killing the internet (and streaming and free Apps for your phone) is Ads. I hate them. When you pay $90 to $100 a month just for internet service, there's no reason we have to view ads as well.

Fast lane, slow lane, the internet is already so broken I'm not sure it matters any more. But ending neutrality rules just throws fuel on the fire. Let the lawsuits begin.