The recent net neutrality decision by the FCC has created an amazing amount of fear for broadband subscribers who are worried that they will be losing access to popular aspects of the Internet. There is also general confusion in the public from numerous rumors circulating on social media – some potentially true and many others false.

And I think this worry and confusion creates a good opportunity for smaller ISPs to let customers know that you will continue to uphold net neutrality, even if it is no longer required. This is an easy pledge for small ISPs to make because it’s difficult for small ISPs to violate net neutrality rules even if they want to. The net neutrality rules were aimed at the largest ISPs, the ones that have enough market power to put pressure on web content providers, or ones that might implement intrusive requirements on customers.

It’s also a good time to tell customers of plans to continue to protect their privacy – something that the public probably associates with the net neutrality headlines. While the two topics are not the same, I am sure that many people equate net neutrality and privacy.

In the short run I recommend contacting customers and making a big splash about the topic. Perhaps send a heartfelt email or even mail a paper letter to customers that pledges a continuation of net neutrality and respect for customer privacy.

Small ISPs that are competing directly with the big ISPs also ought to consider making this one of the highlights of any sales or marketing campaign. This is a differentiation from the big ISPs that customers will value that really doesn’t cost a small ISP anything. It should be easy to promise not to block Internet traffic, throttle customer broadband speeds or force paid prioritization of Internet traffic. It also should be easy to pledge to not share customer data.

If the current reversal of the net neutrality rules lasts for a while (something I am doubtful about) this could get a little more complicated. I am positive, for example, that at some point over the next few years that bigger ISPs or data brokers are going to offer to pay small ISPs for access to customer data. Small ISPs ought to reject such offers because the benefit of maintaining customer privacy is worth more than payments from selling customer data.

I also suspect that small ISPs will eventually get offers to take part in programs or products that would violate net neutrality rules. You might be offered software that will create bundles of Internet products, like the ones likely offered by the big ISPs. You might be offered cheaper backhaul bandwidth that includes some blocking and prioritization of traffic. Again, my guess is that maintaining a totally open Internet product is worth more than can be gained by implementing such future products.

The big ISPs are unwittingly handing their competitors a chance to take the high road and it would be silly not to take advantage of this opportunity. I know that if I had an option to buy broadband from a small ISP I would jump at the opportunity as long as they were making this pledge. I currently have broadband from Charter. They haven’t said what they might have in mind due to the end of net neutrality, but I find it impossible to believe that they won’t copy things done by the other big ISPs that prove to be profitable. As a consumer my real fear about the end of net neutrality is that the public won’t be told what their ISP is doing. For example, you might experience slowdowns of some kinds of web traffic and not know that you were being throttled. The big ISPs are already quietly monetizing customer data.

Even if some of the net neutrality rules should be put back in place I think any marketing advantage from the topic will still favor small ISPs. Small ISPs will be able to claim for many years that you never lobbied to end net neutrality and you never violated customer trust, even after the net neutrality rules were killed.