The only real question is what is the real monetary value associated with price of carriage ? If you do not like the “troll toll” then you do not need to use the mobile device for the application.

I don’t think AT&T specified a difference in quality, per se, but it is certainly possible they could offer lower prices to some companies, creating a tiered environment where big players can freeze out new entrants who lack the user base and capital to pay for their customers’ data upfront.

Toll-free calling is not compulsory for businesses. Of course the caller is not billed either … unless you’re using wireless maritime services, at which point you have international roaming charges (but I digress).

In the cited WSJ article, Mr. Donavan refers to the nascent plan as “a feature that we’re hoping to have” and that AT&T would offer an “incentive to participate”.

That sounds an awful lot like “optional” vs. “mandatory” to me.

Just as consumers don’t pay for toll-free calls, if the analogy holds, then consumers wouldn’t pay for bandwidth used by toll-free metered apps either.

As for consumer advocate arguments that “AT&T could stifle competition and shift the playing field toward well-heeled app developers and content providers” … by that logic, any telco offering toll-free services has stifled competition and shifted the playing field with every toll-free number they ever issued to a business.

“By allowing some companies to pay for better services” is perhaps the WSJ article’s most egregious leap in logic. Tell me: Where/when did AT&T acknowledge that the bandwidth in this still emerging plan would somehow be of higher quality? Answer: They didn’t. All I gleaned is that it could be paid for by businesses. Accent on could.

Until AT&T has more exacting info to say about this, don’t go jumping to fatal conclusions, folks.

The root faux pas here is not with AT&T, but in WSJ’s misleading headline: AT&T May Try Billing App Makers. It reads like it’s being forced on them, even when Mr. Donovan’s comments suggest otherwise.

Sheesh, read the WSJ article, as in REALLY READ it! C’mon GigaOm, I expect better from your writers. :(