The FCC’s Open Internet Rule — net neutrality — has been in effect for months now, but that doesn’t mean every question about the ins and outs of who can do what with their network is settled. Far from it, in fact. Some questions, like zero rating, have been hanging out there unresolved all this time. Except now they’re a bit more resolved, and it seems to be totally okay for the time being. [More]
zero rating
T-Mobile Unveils Free Video Streaming For Two Dozen Services, Doubles Data Plans
By 11.10.15
T-Mobile CEO John Legere today, at the company’s tenth “Uncarrier” announcement event, confirmed earlier reports that the big pink phone carrier will shortly stop charging streaming video against customers’ data plans. [More]
Charter Promises TWC, Bright House Merger Will Not Include Data Caps… For A Few Years, Anyway
By 6.29.15
Nobody likes home data caps. And nobody really likes their cable companies. So how can Charter and TWC look like good guys and maybe gain a little favor while planning out their merger? By promising to skip the data caps once they’re joined. At least, for a while. [More]
Report: AT&T Wireless Program To Let Subscribers Get Free Data From Advertisers
By 6.11.15
Data is a precious resource for mobile consumers and the wireless companies that serve them. The two are always in a trade-off: data caps, overage pricing, unlimited plans, zero-rating… there are loads of different iterations (and shenanigans) in that sphere. And now, reports indicate AT&T might be trying out a new one. [More]
AT&T Wants To Be Able To Charge Video Streaming Services For Exemption From Customers’ Data Caps
By 5.28.15
Data caps on home broadband stink, but they’re also a reality for millions of internet users (and probably soon for all of us). And as the FCC’s new open internet rules go into effect in the coming days to protect net neutrality, they’re also becoming one of the main ways in which ISPs can soak up extra cash from consumers and businesses alike. [More]
Netflix Changes Tune About Seeking Data Cap Exemptions For Service
By 4.16.15
In recent years, Netflix has been a vocal proponent of net neutrality and an outspoken critic of ISP business models that would allow certain deep-pocketed companies to gain a competitive edge over smaller players in the streaming video market. Thus the company was heavily criticized in March when it made deals with Australian ISPs that would exempt Netflix from users’ monthly data caps. This morning, the company announced that it regrets this decision and will no longer seek exemptions going forward. [More]
Report: New Streaming TV Services Trying To Sidestep Net Neutrality Rule
By 3.20.15
A segment of consumers has for many years been begging for an unbundled, à la carte option for programming. That future is now taking its first shambling steps into our homes — only, it’s happening through the magic of the internet, and not in pay-TV subscriptions. But right now, we are in a particularly turbulent time for sorting out the rules of what is and isn’t allowed when it comes to giving preferential treatment to certain services. While the virtual ink is still drying on the brand-new, not-yet-implemented open internet rule, new players in the field of over-the-top internet TV are already trying to see just how far that rule bends. [More]
4 Things We Still Don’t Know About Net Neutrality
By 2.27.15
The FCC voted yesterday to reclassify broadband and protect the open internet. In other words, at long last, we have a net neutrality rule. And that’s great! But there is still a lot we don’t know, and there are a lot of questions left unanswered. Here are the major things we don’t know, and parts we’re waiting to better understand. [More]
