It doesn't take a genius to see how this issue could potentially affect gamers. "The gaming community, also the businesses that provide services to the gaming community are at a significant risk," warns Karr. Kurtz voices similar concerns. "Smaller game companies could have a hard time getting fast traffic for their online games. The fan sites, mod communities could be affected."

If your favorite MMO doesn't pony up cash for premium service, you could be out of luck. Or, if the ISP you use runs on a connection owned by a company that has decided to give game servers low priority, your days of lag-free gaming could be at an end, no matter how fast your own connection to the web is. Another scenario has web content providers deferring the charges for high-speed service to you, the web user, turning the Internet into something like cable TV where you have to pay for access to specific sites, much like how you have to pay to get HBO.