Image via Shutterstock.

Image via Shutterstock.

As expected, the Federal Communications Commission has approved a new set of rules for Web providers that ensures a free and open Internet in the strictest sense of the words.

The new plan, which was proposed by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler earlier this month, will ensure that big service providers, like Verizon or Comcast, can’t unlawfully block or slow down service. It will be illegal for Web sites to pay an extra fee to speed up users’ access—aka “fast lanes—as well as for service providers to slow down streaming services unless you pay an extra fee. Basically, high-speed broadband providers will be regulated like a public utility.

Today’s ruling came after a 3-to-2 vote among the FCC’s board, with the two dissenters being the commissions Republican members. The road to net neutrality has been a long one, with Wheeler originally not completely on board with it. However, after President Barack Obama backed the idea of a completely free and open Internet, Wheeler came around and laid out his proposal in Wired last month, writing that “these enforceable, bright-line rules will ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services,”

Among the many advocates and organizations who lent their support of net neutrality are many prominent and independent musicians, who co-signed a letter to Wheeler authored by the Future of Music Coalition.

“The American people reasonably expect and deserve an Internet that is fast, fair, and open,” Wheeler said in a statement. “Today they get what they deserve: strong, enforceable rules that will ensure the Internet remains open, now and in the future.”