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Netflix Pushes FCC To Crack Down On Data Caps (dslreports.com)

Posted by msmash on from the hate-data-caps dept.

Netflix hates data caps. The on-demand movies and TV shows service has asked the US Federal Communications Commission to declare that home internet data caps are unreasonable and that they limit customers' ability to watch online video. From an article on DSLReports:Netflix has long has an adversarial relationship with ISPs, and often for good reason. Usage caps on fixed-line networks are specifically designed to protect ISP TV revenues from Netflix competition, allowing an ISP to both complicate and generate additional profit off of the shift away from legacy TV. "Data caps (especially low data caps) and usage based pricing ("UBP") discourage a consumer's consumption of broadband, and may impede the ability of some households to watch Internet television in a manner and amount that they would like," said Netflix in a new filing with the FCC. "For this reason, the Commission should hold that data caps on fixed Âline networks ÂÂand low data caps on mobile networksÂÂ may unreasonably limit Internet television viewing and are inconsistent with Section 706." Netflix's filing comes as ISP's increasingly turn to broadband usage caps to take advantage of the lack of broadband competition in many markets. Fearing FCC crackdown both Comcast and AT&T raised their caps to one terabyte, though many ISPs still cap usage at much-lower allotments. High, low, or somewhere in between, Netflix highlights that there is no good reason to implement caps on well-managed fixed-line networks, despite a decade of ISPs trying to justify the price gouging.

3 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. At&t doesn't even try to pretend it isnt extor by netsavior · · Score: 4, Informative

    Their official policy is that you have to pay them for TV no matter what. Either you subscribe to TV, or your internet connection is capped, and you will pay them for TV anyway in the form of overages.

    Seemed like a pretty good plan "Lets punish consumers and make them pay for our ill-conceived acquisition of Direct TV"

    Gee, I wonder why they are losing subscribers.

  2. They should give you what they sold you by XXongo · · Score: 3, Informative
    I don't object to data caps per se, but I expect the ISP to give you what they sold you. If they sold you a plan with no data cap, they should provide access with no data cap.

    Adjustable quality would be a nice user control to have, if you're paying for bandwidth, you should be able to decide how much bandwidth to use on what downloads.

  3. Re:Channel saturation by HiThereImBob · · Score: 4, Informative

    The caps are not put in place by ISPs to make people pay for TV as the summary claims. (Why would an ISP that has no video services at all have caps if that were truly the reason? What is T-Mobile's TV service?) They're put in place to keep people who think they ought to have 100% fulltime use of a shared resource from keeping other users from getting what they are paying for.

    So this is just about network management?

    Comcast VP: 300GB data cap is “business policy,” not technical necessity
    http://arstechnica.com/busines...

    Another Broadband CEO Admits: Data Caps Have Nothing To Do With Capacity
    https://consumerist.com/2016/0...

    Leaked Comcast memo reportedly admits data caps aren't about improving network performance
    http://www.theverge.com/smart-...

    Comcast Admits Broadband Usage Caps Are A Cash Grab, Not An Engineering Necessity
    https://www.techdirt.com/artic...