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FCC Rules That Verizon Cannot Charge For 4G Tethering

Posted by Soulskill on from the and-there-was-much-rejoicing dept.

schleprock63 writes "The FCC ruled today that Verizon cannot charge extra for users for 4G Wi-Fi tethering. The FCC used the original agreement in the auction of the C block spectrum which said 'licensees offering service on C Block spectrum "shall not deny, limit, or restrict the ability of their customers to use the devices and applications of their choice on the licensee's C Block network, subject to narrow exceptions."' So Verizon cannot charge for tethering on 4G service, this raises the question of whether they can continue to charge for tethering on 3G or 1x?"

4 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. Good for the Judges by Nyder · · Score: 4, Interesting

    About time we got some smart rulings.

    I don't see why this won't apply to 3G or any other type of tethering either, since it's all the same.

    --
    Be seeing you...
    1. Re:Good for the Judges by TubeSteak · · Score: 5, Interesting

      THIS was an administrative hearing which FUNCTIONS much like a court for most intents and purposes. Therefore the ONLY recourse left to VZ is an actual court. And having already been ruled on by an Administrative hearing, the hurdle is much much higher for VZ than normal court case

      $1.25 million (paid to the Treasury Dept) works out to 5,208 customers paying $20/month for a year.
      Raise your hand if you really think Verizon only had 5,208 customers pay for 4G tethering.

      Corporations love these consent decrees because it means they get a slap on the wrist in return for promising not to do [bad thing] again.
      At the absolute bare minimum, Verizon should be paying back the customers their $20 x # of months.

      Ninety nine times out of a hundred, consent decrees piss me the hell off.

      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
  2. Ah-HA by DWMorse · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So THIS is why they converted to the consumer benefit-free data-bucket plans. You can add any device to your plan, but they'll make sure it bites your smartphone and every other device in your plan in the ass if you make a single wrong step. Well played.

    FCC: "Can you hear us now?"
    VZN: "Yeah, and we got it covered."

    --
    There's a spot in User Info for World of Warcraft account names? Really?
  3. Re:Verizon only by MorrisonHiker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yep. My friend has the original Google Nexus One phone. For years, he had no problem tethering devices. Then one day, he started getting messages in the web browser telling him that he had to subscribe to a tethering plan for $15 or so a month. I showed him how to change a setting on his browser for the http user agent and he hasn't seen the tethering warning since.