Content providers will soon pay mobile carriers to exempt their traffic from consumers’ mobile data plans, says AT&T’s Randall Stephenson. That may seem like a good deal for consumers but in the long-term it’s actually a raw deal. Read more »
ESPN is reportedly in negotiations with Verizon to exempt its content from the carrier’s data caps. Such a deal would set a precedence for a very different mobile internet than the one we know today. Read more »
The country’s economics and technology minister has reportedly urged Telekom to watch its step, after the telco announced caps for fixed-line users. Thing is, usage of Telekom’s own entertainment services won’t count towards those caps. Read more »
It turns out that Google, the great proponent of net neutrality, is paying Orange to handle its traffic on the carrier’s mobile networks. That’s an unwelcome development, and here’s why. Read more »
The latest firmware update for Free’s set-top box adds a beta ad-blocking feature, which turns on by default when the user resets the device. If this was deliberate, it’s an interesting development for an ISP already embroiled in a net neutrality investigation. Read more »
The European Parliament has passed two resolutions in favor of net neutrality, just as the issue rears its ugly head at the WCIT summit. But neither the pro nor anti factions look likely to get their way. Read more »
AT&T had come under fire this summer when it said only customers who subscribed to a new Mobile Share plan could use FaceTime over cellular networks. Several open internet groups threatened to file complaints with the FCC, saying it violated net neutrality. Read more »
Tea Party favorite Senator Rand Paul took to the podium at a Heritage Foundation event last week to talk about tech policy. However, individual rights and less government regulation certainly are important to the future of the internet, there are necessary limits to that freedom. Read more »
Verizon filed its 116-page suit to appeal the network neutrality regulations enacted by the FCC. The suit has a glossary, 53 pages of legal argument, inflammatory prose on regulating the Internet and even the FCC trampling ISPs’ first amendment rights, but Verizon may prevail. Read more »
Netflix isn’t satisfied with Comcast’s announcement that the broadband provider is going to raise its bandwidth cap from 250GB to 300GB per month. The real issue, the video service said, is Comcast’s unwillingness to count its own Xfinity.tv service as part of that cap. Read more »
Sony has big plans for a competitive home video service to compete with programming offers from the cable and satellite companies – or maybe I should say ‘had’. Those plans are on hold until regulators decide if Comcast can keep prioritize its content over everyone else’s. Read more »
Skype may be blocked for use by a wireless provider in the very country one of Skype’s founders, Niklas Zennström, is from. Sweden’s Telia is reportedly considering a block on Skype’s mobile video and VoIP services later this year unless customers pay an additional usage charge. Read more »
There is real long-term danger to Netflix lurking in the FCC’s current net neutrality rules, but it lies in the rules’ failure to regulate those parts of the Internet the consumer doesn’t see, like peering agreements between last-mile ISPs and content distribution networks (CDNs). While Netflix ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The emphasis by Comcast’s critics on the near-term regulatory implications of its Xbox strategy may be misplaced. Rather than challenging net neutrality rules directly, Comcast seems to be playing a long game against its over-the-top competitors based on quality of service and premised on the coming, ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Comcast said content streamed over Microsoft’s Xbox won’t count against a user’s 250 GB usage cap, prompting outrage. But the reality of the situation is that the way Comcast is delivering its content over the Xbox means it’s in the right. Did net neutrality fail? Read more »
Has Google betrayed its principles? In 2008, Google convinced the FCC to impose ‘open access’ requirements on Verizon’s future 4G spectrum, requirements Verizon now appears to be flouting. Should Google fight back or should it take a more diplomatic approach. Vote your answer in our poll. Read more »
In the net neutrality debate, Internet Service Providers talk about charging content providers for prioritization so they can invest in improving infrastructure. But placing a price on prioritizing content creates an inherent disincentive to expand. Professors Hsing Cheng, Shubho Bandyopadhyay and Hong Guo elaborate. Read more »
Mobile operators may be key players in the mobile data revolution, building its broadband networks. But in the eyes of the markets, the telcos are seen as utilities, while their Valley counterparts are the ‘true’ high-tech innovators. A new study claims operators can change this. Read more »
The US Senate this afternoon voted against a law to repeal new FCC rules that forbid internet service providers from favoring certain websit… Read more at paidContent »
A report published today in the UK labels arguments against network neutrality as “myths” — and suggests that attempts by broadband providers to manage online traffic will end up doing long-term damage to the entire Internet industry. Read more »
Verizon filed its second suit against the network neutrality laws today, sparking more debate over who can determine how content traverses the Internet. Meanwhile, a paper suggests that the Internet delivers up to $5,686 in economic value, and says that value is at risk. Read more »
The Federal Communications Commission’s controversial net neutrality rules have been officially filed with the Federal Register and will go into effect Nov. 20. But it’s expected to prompt new legal challenges from carriers who question the FCC’s legal authority to implement the rules. Read more »
The FCC’s net neutrality rules are their final steps to becoming a real law. Soon they will be on their way to the Federal Register. Once that happens, anyone can file a lawsuit and get the ball rolling on testing the rules in court. Read more »
The Netherlands might be a tiny country, but when it comes to broadband, it is one that likes to make big moves. It had been quick to embrace fiber broadband. And now it is enacting a law that guarantees “net neutrality” for its citizens. Read more »
AT&T’s strategy for pushing through its $39-billion purchase of T-Mobile, thus consolidating further the majority of the mobile subscribers, 4G-capable spectrum and revenue in the U.S. is fantastic. Let’s take a look at the promises, the changes in strategy and the continuing issues. Read more »
Europe’s long-awaited position on net neutrality is finally here — and it looks like business as usual, with telecom companies retaining the right to block or throttle traffic in return for making the life of consumers a little bit easier. Read more »
Next month, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is convening a meeting of the world’s most powerful politicians and the leaders of the Internet’s most important companies. Together they’ll discuss the future of the online world. Should we be happy? Or is it cause for concern? Read more »
Akamai and Ericsson are teaming up to help mobile operators better manage and monetize traffic that flows over their networks. The partnership could take advantage of recent net neutrality ruling by the FCC that will lightly regulate the management of traffic on wireless networks. Read more »
Despite the fact that it’s still a mystery how big the cloud computing business really is, it’s already having huge effects on the IT world, including shortening the timeline from idea to product, maximizing profit per server and changing CIOs’ jobs. Read more »
BT has come under a good deal of criticism from net neutrality proponents for the launch of a new CDN service called Content Connect. But despite claims that the U.K. network operator is creating a “two-tier web,” BT is merely offering services that are already well-established. Read more »
Among the most interesting cloud discussions around the web today were those about what we learned about cloud computing in 2010, how Net Neutrality will affect the delivery of cloud services and what cloud providers presently offer the most-complete portfolios. Read more »
MetroPCS’s discounted 4G LTE mobile broadband plans, announced yesterday, weren’t just the beginning of a possible price war. It represented a long-talked about tactic of ISPs charging for content at different rates and potentially favoring their own services while charging more for access to rivals. Read more »
It will take some time before the full effects of the FCC’s recent net neutrality order take hold. But one thing’s clear: Over-the-top video and the ability of third-party online video sites to operate and innovate is at the heart of the commission’s rules. Read more »
The FCC implementation of rules around network neutrality on Tuesday may open up a change in the way carriers price mobile broadband — and it’s not going to get cheaper. Uncertainly over network neutrality has held U.S. operators back when it comes to new pricing plans. Read more »
Net Neutrality, a drama that has dragged on for years, lurched forward today with new rules from the FCC that will impose some basic protections for an open Internet but will leave wireless with less safeguards than wired broadband. Here’s what the Web is saying: Read more »
Yesterday FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski unveiled a framework for the regulatory agencies net neutrality efforts — the idea that a broadband provider cannot interference with the delivery of lawful bits over its network — that received fairly lackluster support. But we found a compelling counterpoint in the blogosphere. Read more »
The conventional wisdom is that Comcast is evil, therefore, Level 3 must be the innocent victim of Comcast’s capricious greed. In reality, this is a complex situation without clear-cut heroes or villains — in the network game, this is business as usual. Read more »
The FCC is moving forward on a vote for long-promised net neutrality rules, fulfilling a goal Chairman Julius Genachoswski laid out more than a year ago. The regulations, which will be heard on Dec. 21, will require wireline providers to follow stricter rules than wireless. Read more »
A showdown between Comcast and Level 3 over fees Level 3 has agreed to pay the cable giant to carry its traffic has touched off a debate as to whether Comcast is abusing its power or if it’s simply holding Level 3 to a fair standard. Read more »
The fight that erupted today between Level 3 and Comcast involves an esoteric agreement and equally esoteric policy arguments, but at its core this fight is about money. Yet what has begun as commercial dispute may change how the web works and who pays for it. Read more »
