FCC Wants To Talk To AT&T, T-Mobile, Comcast Over Free Data Programs

Last month T-Mobile announced a new service called Binge On. Basically this allowed users to stream videos from certain platforms without the data consumed from the videos eating into their data plans. It is a good idea and even the FCC praised T-Mobile’s initiative, but now it seems that the FCC wants to have a little chat with the carrier.

According to a report from LA Times, the FCC has revealed that they want to talk with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Comcast over some of their “zero-rated” data programs. The FCC’s Chairman Tom Wheeler has stressed that this is not an investigation into the carriers, but rather this is a informal talk where they just want to have a talk to get all the facts and determine that these programs are not a violation of net neutrality.

Interestingly enough, Verizon is not part of these conversations. The carrier had earlier this month announced a sponsored data program. This basically allowed customers to join the program where companies would deliver ads or information to them, such as photos or videos, and not have those multimedia files count towards their data.

For those unfamiliar with net neutrality, the idea is that bandwidth should be neutral. This means that companies like carriers or internet service providers should not prioritize bandwidth to companies who pay for them, and end up neglecting or affecting the speeds or regular customers in the process.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones, General
Tags: AT&T, comcast, FCC, Legal, T-Mobile