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Verizon to Let Some Content Bypass Wireless Usage Caps

Add Verizon Wireleess to the list of companies who've decided to start experimenting with "zero rating," or letting some content not count against your wireless broadband usage cap. Verizon Executive Vice President Marni Walden told Recode this week that the company's "sponsored data" program should start in as soon as a few days, though further specifics weren't provided.

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“The capabilities we’ve built allow us to break down any byte that is carried across our network and have all or a portion of that sponsored,” Walden said.

Initially Verizon says it will be testing the service with just a few companies, but ultimately plans to let content companies pay for cap-exempt status at an "affordable rate."

“We’ll be out in a larger commercial way in the first quarter of 2016,” she said.

Such zero rating efforts have generally been criticized by net neutrality advocates. By letting some content (usually the bigger players) not count against the usage cap, you're immediately putting smaller companies, startups, or nonprofits at a disadvantage when it comes to getting user attention (whether the system's pay to play or not). That distorts the traditionally open, level playing field of Internet commerce.

The problem is, while the FCC passed net neutrality rules last February, they don't specifically ban zero rating. Instead, the FCC has said it will enforce zero rating on a "case by case basis," and so far, the FCC hasn't batted an eyelash at the wide variety of zero rated services now emerging.

AT&T's been testing its "Sponsored Data" service for several years, in which companies pay to be cap exempt (so far there's been few takers). T-Mobile now allows the largest music and streaming services to bypass the cap, though companies pay nothing and consumers can disable the feature. Comcast meanwhile has started exempting its own streaming service from the company's fixed-line usage caps.

While some zero rating approaches are worse than others, the FCC's response to all of these has ranged from total silence to praise, despite the potentially dangerous precedent at play. We'll have to wait and see exactly what kind of wrinkle Verizon's own zero rating wireless broadband plans add to the mix.

Most recommended from 57 comments



cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL

13 recommendations

cb14

Member

NN dead on arrival

That's what I was afraid of when t Mobile started this foolishness. Now everybody is jumping in one or the other way. FCC is a lame duck. Republicans won't need that lawsuit. Are there still people out there who believe that zero rating is just fine?

radem
join:2001-05-31
Windermere, FL

10 recommendations

radem

Member

Net Neutrality is a Farce

When will people understand that by allowing some services for free, your internet provider is penalizing other services that are not free by encouraging its users to not use those other services? It seems the FCC has decided that Net Neutrality only applies when the provider is blocking or degrading access to internet content and not when it is making you pay more for "non-approved" services.

If I have pre-paid for a 5GB data bucket, why do I have to use up my prepaid data bucket to watch YouTube videos when someone else gets to watch Netflix without using their prepaid bucket. That is completely unfair to me as it will likely cause me to have to buy a bigger data bucket for what I want to use my internet connection for or will cause me to no longer watch YouTube videos.

This is exactly what people were afraid of and why they pushed for Net Neutrality. We want our internet providers to be neutral parties with dumb internet pipes and not "encourage" us to use their recommended sites and services. Slowing down some types of traffic, blocking traffic to some sites, or just making me pay more for some sites is all the same to me. It is all bad.

beck
MVM
join:2002-01-29
On The Road

8 recommendations

beck

MVM

Oh and the masses will love it

They will pay more to use it. Why not. Until each year the price goes up and up. And then if you didn't pay, you can't get some websites.

Does this sound like cable or what? Geez, people can be so stupid.
microphone
Premium Member
join:2009-04-29
Parkville, MD

7 recommendations

microphone

Premium Member

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Chuck_IV
join:2003-11-18
Connecticut

7 recommendations

Chuck_IV

Member

The FCC needs to...

step up to the plate on this. This(and Comcast's new "service") is EXACTLY why people wanted Net Neutrality to begin with, yet the FCC sits their with their thumb up their *ss.