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T-Mobile Gives Customers Free Pokemon Go Data (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on from the slow,-sweet-death-to-net-neutrality dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report from The Verge: T-Mobile has been a pioneer in giving special treatment to various apps and types of content used on its mobile network, and the carrier announced today that Pokemon Go will be joining its enclave of free data. Starting on July 19th, T-Mobile customers will have Pokemon Go data exempted from their high-speed data caps for a year. The company is also throwing in some other perks, like $15 in Lyft rides ("to get to a new pokestop or gym"), and a free Wendy's Frosty, making the slow death of net neutrality literally sweet.

13 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. net neutrality by locopuyo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    doesn't this violate net neutrality?

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    The Official Site of 1337 Pwnage
    1. Re:net neutrality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's not how Net Neutrality works.

      They are giving preferential treatment to Pokemon GO over other apps. Pokemon GO's data is privileged over other data.

      If customers actually care about which games use their data and which ones don't, this means Pokemon GO has a clear advantage in the market.

    2. Re:net neutrality by EmeraldBot · · Score: 3, Insightful

      doesn't this violate net neutrality?

      how would it violate net neutrality?

      First T-mobile doesn't stop data, it just slows it at a certain data level (depending on your plan). So no matter what website/app you're not getting blocked and if you haven't reached your data level you'll be at the same speed.

      Second T-mobile is doing this as a benefit to its customers. Its a perk. Its not charging us differently, its not charging Pokemon Go to do this. etc.

      Third because it doesn't count against your data cap, you can use the data you would have used playing pokemon-go on the other apps.

      I see no reason why this would be a bad thing for anyone except ATT, Sprint and Verizon...

      It's not bad with Pokemon Go, but what if they offered free data for Netflix but not for Amazon Prime Video, for example? While I don't think T-mobile has done anything wrong here, and I like that they're giving out little benefits, we need to be very careful of the precedent we risk setting. It's fine to give out free data for an app which has no direct competition, but once we start moving into custom stores or services, then I think that, faced with one being free data and the other not, I think the choice is pretty clear what most people are going to make, and it becomes easy for somebody like ATT and Verzion to partner with Netflix and drive out all competition, in exchange for a cut of Netflix's profits. It literally becomes unprofitable to make a competition video service in such a case.

      --
      "Set a man a fire, he'll be warm for the rest of the night. Set a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
    3. Re: net neutrality by SmaryJerry · · Score: 2, Informative

      As long as they aren't accepting a payment from Nintendo or anyone else for offering Pokemon go data free, they are not violating net neutrality.

    4. Re:net neutrality by DrXym · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It violates net neutrality by incentivizing customers to prefer the app which doesn't hit their bandwidth allocation over the one that does. It is quite obvious how that could be detrimental.

    5. Re:net neutrality by DrXym · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It's fine to give out free data for an app which has no direct competition,

      Even Pokemon Go has direct competition. It may masquerade as a game but its basically collecting monetizable data about your movements and habits. It also has in-app purchasing. Is it beyond the bounds of possibility that T-Mobile has cut itself a deal for a share of the profits in return for free bandwidth?

    6. Re:net neutrality by mrchaotica · · Score: 2

      I see no reason why this would be a bad thing for anyone except ATT, Sprint and Verizon...

      You don't see why it would be a bad thing for other mobile games that compete against Pokemon Go, but don't get free data?

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    7. Re:net neutrality by sh00z · · Score: 2

      That really depends if Pokemon start mysteriously appearing in Starbucks, or if you get ads for places in your vicinity. The game monetizes your activities as well as in-app purchases (which could also be tied to real-world promotions based on location). Therefore it is east to see a profit motive for Nintendo and for any network provider who cuts themselves a deal in return for some revenue.

      They've already announced that in ~30 days, every McDonald's in the US will be a Pokemon gym.

  2. Except it probably saves on data usage by chispito · · Score: 2

    If you're playing PG you're not watching videos and probably not streaming music. From a Data:BatteryLife standpoint, you're coming out way ahead.

    --
    The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    1. Re:Except it probably saves on data usage by sexconker · · Score: 2

      From a Data:BatteryLife standpoint, you're coming out way ahead.

      I found him! I found the one guy not playing Pokemon GO!!!

      Pokemon GO chews through batteries like a Sega Game Gear.

  3. Marketing by mentil · · Score: 2

    This story is basically free advertising for T-Mobile. Pokemon GO is super popular at the moment, but it doesn't use much data. It uses up 2-8MB/hour, and the average player only plays it 43 minutes a day, meaning 1.5-6MB per day usage for an average player. That's ~120MB/month for the average player, not exactly pushing the limits of most people's data caps.

    Adding in that it's probably the most popular mobile game at the moment anyhow, there shouldn't be a net neutrality problem; people who don't enjoy the game won't feel pressured to play it over other games merely due to the zero-rated data. If, say, one VPN were zero-rated while its competitors were not, there could be a serious problem; I could even see zero-rating being a problem with MMOs or livestreaming services where different services are essentially commodities. However, in this case the data usage of a game with effectively no competition in its genre isn't a significant contributor to people's choice to play it over other games.

    --
    Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
  4. Nothing to do with Net Neutrality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Much like when people scream the 2nd Amendment when a private company declines to allow you to say your piece whenever you want, people will scream Net Neutrality at this.

    This was not an agreement between Tmobile and Nintendo (or peering systems) to prioritize data.
    This was not Tmobile accelerating or throttling data.
    This was not Tmobile affecting the transfer of data at all.

    This was Tmobile making a business decision to exempt this data from charges to you. They are totally allowed to do this, and its actually a great promotional move.

    Put down the pitchforks and pick up the pokeballs, you gotta catch 'em all...

  5. T-Mobile Tuesdays by Zargg · · Score: 2

    Someone has a bone to pick with T-Mobile...the free Lyft ride and Wendy's frosty have absolutely nothing to do with Net Neutrality or adding Pokemon Go data to binge on. They are weekly gifts through their T-Mobile Tuesday giveaways which they've had for I don't even know how long, but long before now.