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T-Mobile's Binge On Violates Net Neutrality, Says Stanford Report (tmonews.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The debate over whether or not Binge On violates Net Neutrality has been raging ever since the service was announced in November. The latest party to weigh in is Barbara van Schewick, law professor at Stanford University.
In a new report published today — and filed to the FCC, as well — van Schewick says that Binge on "violates key net neutrality principles" and "is likely to violate the FCC's general conduct rule." She goes on to make several arguments against Binge On, saying that services in Binge On distorts competition because they're zero-rated and because video creators are more likely to use those providers for their content, as the zero-rated content is more attractive to consumers.
In a new report published today — and filed to the FCC, as well — van Schewick says that Binge on "violates key net neutrality principles" and "is likely to violate the FCC's general conduct rule." She goes on to make several arguments against Binge On, saying that services in Binge On distorts competition because they're zero-rated and because video creators are more likely to use those providers for their content, as the zero-rated content is more attractive to consumers.
So, T-mobile puts a program in place that benefits its customers by keeping streaming content off the meters, and this is a problem? Who was net neutrality supposed to benefit again?
sig: sauer
It's not about users, it's about the massive transfer of control to the carriers with net neutrality violating programs like this. All content providers now have to conform to Tmobile's throttling rules in order to qualify for special status, and these rules are subject to change at Tmobile's whim.
In addition, video services NOT INCLUDED IN BINGE-ON are also being throttled while other types of traffic are not throttled. This is a textbook violation of net neutrality.
It's about control. Users and content creators should have control of the internet, and carriers should be blind carriers of data. That's the entire point of net neutrality.
In addition, video services NOT INCLUDED IN BINGE-ON are also being throttled
This is at the users request (the user enables binge on and the throttling setting).
To quote an EFF article:
T-Mobile's Binge On service could have been great. Giving customers a choice about how to use their data so that they can stream more video without hitting their data cap is a wonderful idea. Unfortunately, T-Mobile botched the roll out. Without asking, they made it the default for all of their customers.
I also found a The Verge article that confirms that throttling goes away once Binge On is disabled:
T-Mobile was throttling all video traffic over its network, including video downloads, for all customers who had not disabled the Binge On feature that the company automatically enabled for everyone in November.
All in all, I think this is a mountain out of a molehill. The biggest problem was how T-Mobile rolled it out. If they would have made it opt-in at roll out instead of opt-out, the issue would be much more clear, and I don't think it would have become a net neutrality matter.
I'm not sure if it's a bugbear that non-Binge On videos get throttled when Binge On is active. I could go either way on that one. (Or better yet, T-Mobile should have made it an option.)
Actually, what I really want to know is why T-Mobile doesn't just apologize and disable it for everybody. Problem solved imho.
You are full of it. They are not fucking up anything. They simply have provided a feature to be able to limit videos being watched on the phone at a ridiculously high bitrate such as 2k or 4k which would be overkill for such small screens. And it can easily be toggled on or off.
Please stop crapping your pants about this.
480 is exactly what I would want on a 5-inch display phone. Even on a 15-inch laptop I often watch videos at 480 p.
As for your comments, if you are too stupid to read the communication the carrier sent to you notifying you of it, that's your problem.
And I'm sure if you were having an unwarranted crap-fit about your resolution because you ignored the communication, and called their support number, they would have immediately told you what was going on and given you the same information that was in the communication you failed to read.
I have T-Mobile, and it sounds like you don't even understand the problem. I get 6GB a month. If I watch anything from list of providers supported with binge on, it counts as ZERO bandwidth that I've paid for. Why exactly do you think I should complain about not having netflix counted against my data?
Stupid sexy Flanders.