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AT&T To Match Google Fiber In Kansas City, Charge More If You Want Privacy

Posted by Soulskill on from the K.C.-and-the-sunshine-bandwidth dept.

An anonymous reader writes: When Google Fiber started bringing gigabit internet to cities around the U.S., we wondered how the incumbent ISPs would respond. Now we know: AT&T has announced they will match Google Fiber's gigabit offerings in Kansas City. Of course, there are some caveats. First, AT&T's rollout may stop as it fights the Obama administration over net neutrality. Not that it would be a nationwide rollout anyway: "AT&T does not plan to offer the ultra-fast Internet lines to every home in the market. Rather, he said the company would calculate where demand is strongest and the investment in stringing new cables promised a decent return."

There are also some interesting pricing concerns. The company plans to charge $70/month for gigabit service, but that's a subsidized price. Subsidized by what, you ask? Your privacy. AT&T says if you want to opt out of letting them track your browsing history, you'll have to pay $29 more per month. They say your information is used to serve targeted advertising, and includes any links you follow and search terms you enter.

15 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. Please note: by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "AT&T may collect and use web browsing information for other purposes, as described in our Privacy Policy, even if you do not participate in the Internet Preferences program."

    So, there's the $100/month 'Yup, definitely spying on you' tier where "your Internet traffic is routed to AT&T's Internet Preferences web browsing and analytics platform"(good luck finding out exactly what that entails; but it's probably bad); or the $70/month 'Ominous and vague "other purposes"' tier.

    How much evil do they manage into their 'browsing and analytics platform' to be $30 worse than their baseline level of spying?

  2. Thought process by Kokuyo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder about the thought process behind this.
    Our competitor launched an offering that blows everything out of the water that we offer. Let's provide a product to compete! But here's the catch: Let's make it suck! That'll show 'em.

    Are consumers just that dumb or is AT&T just that arrogant?

    1. Re:Thought process by dAzED1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      so, do you think google isn't doing the same with their fiber installs? https://fiber.google.com/legal...

    2. Re:Thought process by Tailhook · · Score: 2, Insightful

      At least with the AT&T deal you can opt out, even if the terms are outrageous. Google doesn't offer any means to opt out, outrageous or otherwise. As to cost, I punch "google fiber cost per month" into Google's own site and $70/month for gigabit is the result. And Google's selective cherry picking of lucrative markets isn't any more egalitarian than anything AT&T is up to; let me know the next time Google wires up a violence plagued ghetto somewhere.

      Seems to me that at worst AT&T is guilty of mediocrity; they've managed to do no more than achieve parity with Google, and maybe a bit better by offering an alternative to being a marketing product.

      But yeah, don't let any of this diminish the lick-spittle outrage; go right ahead and hate all over AT&T all you need. That's what clickbait is for.

      --
      Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
    3. Re:Thought process by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Except there isn't anything to indicate that Google is actually spying on you when you use their internet service.

      The whole point of this two tiered pricing system on AT&T's part is to make it seem as though Google is doing the same, but that doesn't appear to be the case. The reality is quite simple: AT&T wants to charge you $100 for the service, and if they can't, then they are hell bent and determined on claiming their pound of flesh in some other way.

      It isn't exactly a secret that AT&T (and Verizon) has been running a campaign to try to get consumers to value bandwidth at a higher price than they presently pay, because in their mind that is the future cash cow (since they've discovered that text messages, voice minutes, and cable TV aren't "cool" any more, and thus triple play is dying.) Haven't you ever wondered why them (and Verizon) got rid of their unlimited mobile data plans? Hint: It has nothing to do with a lack of spectrum (they have plenty in their possession.) Meanwhile T-Mobile and Sprint (with much lower spectrum holdings) have not.

    4. Re:Thought process by mysidia · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Our competitor launched an offering that blows everything out of the water that we offer. Let's provide a product to compete! But here's the catch: Let's make it suck! That'll show 'em.

      ATT is acting like a monopoly that needs to be broken up by the courts.

    5. Re:Thought process by WaffleMonster · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Except there isn't anything to indicate that Google is actually spying on you when you use their internet service.

      This would be redundant. Virtually every website on the planet already reports to Google for one reason or another.

    6. Re:Thought process by MichaelMacDonald · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ^ This -- They aren't providing a better alternative, they aren't trying to compete at all with Google, they are simply protecting their by offering a similar product that's slightly worse, and confusing people with it. Their marketing will make it sound very different from this article.

    7. Re:Thought process by Kjella · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How does this (from TFA):

      AT&T says it tracks "the webpages you visit, the time you spend on each, the links or ads you see and follow, and the search terms you enter... AT&T Internet Preferences works independently of your browser's privacy settings regarding cookies, do-not-track, and private browsing. If you opt-in to AT&T Internet Preferences, AT&T will still be able to collect and use your Web browsing information independent of those settings."

      equal this:

      Technical information collected from the use of Google Fiber Internet for network management, security or maintenance may be associated with the Google Account you use for Fiber, but such information associated with the Google Account you use for Fiber will not be used by other Google properties without your consent. Other information from the use of Google Fiber Internet (such as URLs of websites visited or content of communications) will not be associated with the Google Account you use for Fiber, except with your consent or to meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request.

      The last blurb just makes it clear that Gmail's terms of service apply when you use Gmail, this doesn't supersede any other agreement. And if you use Hotmail or Yahoo or your own email server Google won't collect any information on you, but AT&T will.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  3. For targeted advertising? by viperidaenz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How are they planning on delivering that? Through injecting ads in your traffic, email spam or letterbox spam? They don't have an ad network like Google.

    With the trend of more and more https traffic, how do they intend on sniffing that?

  4. Left a Lot of Evil On the Table by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I feel AT&T really missed the Evil sweet spot with that tepid announcement. Terms like "Mercifully GRANT you WORTHLESS PLEBEIANS a fair and subsidized tariff on Our Internet" were right there for the taking. "Once we conquer the Dusky, Anti-Capitalist Muslim Usurper" - come on, AT&T! It's like you've killed your last white, long-haired cat in a fit of pique and now you really just don't know how to be EVIL. Let alone Evil. Let alone 'evil'.

    Companies like Apple and Google consciously build up good will balances - and spend them here and there. Apple's issue is that their customers feel there is a ton of good will in the account - but non-Apple people don't get it at all. With Google, their fiber initiative is a good will bank bonanza (for people who are lucky enough to be in remote, non-ocean-bordering geographically experimental locations). On the whole, I'm not sure where they fall on the Good Will vs. Evil balance.

    But AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner are plainly evil, short-sighted Lovecraftian horrors who would consume the world were they not so transparently stupid in their evil. They should seriously fire the entire top 5% of their management structure across the board and have the board outsource their entire strategy and management function to random graduate MBA's from North Korea, Belarus and Eritrea. You'd get a much more focused and higher-quality Evil for pennies on the dollar. PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR, BOARD MEMBERS.

    TL;DR: assholes

  5. It's high time for a new consumer protection law. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Advertising has gotten out of control. When I visit a website, the operating system may be collecting information and advertising to me, the website may be collecting information and advertising to me, the website's corporate partners may be collecting information and advertising to me, the browser developer may be collecting information and advertising to me, and my internet service provider or cellular phone provider may be collecting information and advertising to me. I'm sure I've left out several ways that different layers of companies are trying to cram advertising down my throat.

    FUCKING ENOUGH WITH THE ADS ALREADY.

    If I visit your website and consume your content for free, you may attempt to advertise to me. If I pay a subscription fee for your website, shut the ads off. If I use your app, browser, or operating system for free, you may attempt to advertise to me. If I purchase your app, browser, or operating system, shut the ads off. And for God's sake, if you aren't piping internet service into my home at zero cost to me, you have no right to collect my information and advertise to me.

    We need a new law that says if a consumer is paying a company for a service, the company is not allowed to advertise to the consumer on that service. Period.

  6. Thanks AT&T by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Can you imagine the outcry if AT&T offered a level of service where the spied on your phone calls and inserted targeted advertisements? No one can ever again argue that Title 2 isn't necessary. This is the one of the very reasons common carrier laws were written!

  7. Do you think they asked by Kohath · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Should we still do this, even if 0.5% of our customers might use a workaround?" Or is the answer so obvious that no one bothered to bring it up at all?

  8. Re:Double Jeopardy! by jareth-0205 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ATT is acting like a monopoly that needs to be broken up by the courts.

    What is "Double Jeopardy!"?

    I thought AT&T was already broken up three decades ago for monopoly abuse.

    By your logic, if I get convicted of murder once, I can then go around murderin' again as much as I want once I'm released from prison.

    It is possible to be convicted of the same crime again if you repeat it...