re: $12 A Month For Facebook – Sprint Tramples Over Net Neutrality With New Prepaid

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Net Neutrality never applied to mobile anyway.

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i didn't think so

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they will only make money if they offer desired goods/services at competitive prices

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Have you noticed how most of the major carriers have pretty similar but competitively different options? If the unlimited Facebook deal catches enough revenue with Sprint, do you not think other carriers are going to try something similar? And when that catches on, do you not think there will be even more "a la carte" internet options? Corporations exist to get as much money as its customers (and the law) will allow. Wireless carriers, much like cable companies, have the advantage of only needing to make its services look slightly more attractive than its nearest competitor, who has been raising prices regularly and shifting costs around to also make its services look slightly more attractive than its nearest competitor.

The apathy is what will make this a bad thing. Being OK with each incremental change because it's not much worse than what the other company did last year. It doesn't affect me because I have no desire for that plan. The mere fact of one carrier offering a "facebook" data plan is no big deal on its own, obviously. It's not even Sprint's original idea. It was preceded by T-Mobile's "free" unlimited music streaming. Great, huh? No data cap on music streaming services! Notice that none of these things sound all that bad. Also, notice that pretty much all of us with a smartphone 6 years ago were on unlimited data plans paying the same or less money than what the carriers now charge for tiered data plans with limits designed to keep just the right number of customers oblivious and apathetic enough to shrug and bend over. The war against data caps has already been lost because an apathetic majority and a too-quiet minority. Now we're fighting net neutrality with slightly more vigor, but the apathetic/oblivious majority has only increased.

And that really isn't the worst of it. As has already been stated, the big music streaming/social networking/video sites will have the capital to get in bed with carriers, effectively turning spotify, youtube, netflix, etc. into their own "non-competitive" mini-versions of comcast, AT&T, time warner, etc.

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Also, notice that pretty much all of us with a smartphone 6 years ago were on unlimited data plans paying the same or less money than what the carriers now charge for tiered data plans with limits designed to keep just the right number of customers oblivious and apathetic enough to shrug and bend over.

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i'm still on an unlimited plan for basically the same money. that's also, ironically in this thread, via sprint

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The war against data caps has already been lost because an apathetic majority and a too-quiet minority.

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this is your problem. you want it one way. the general public wants it another way. the market has spoken

there are other options, like metro pcs or ting. i know ting lets you "pay as you go" with a lot of tiers. even they will advertise that power users won't benefit from these plans financially (iirc)

the scenario is more like this. 6 years ago power users got the better end of the deal (by far). the corporations realized this, moved the deals more towards the "middle", and now power users miss the days when they raped the companies. no shite they don't want to live in a world where the market has shifted

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not really

they're allowing you unlimited access for certain sites, if you want.

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You continue to look at it only from the consumer's point of view. From the developer/content provider's point of view, it is restriction, and it is a crushing blow to competition and innovation.

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The disagreement is that you seem to treat capitalism as a religion,

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i'm not even really making that argument

i'm saying that we don't have a right to these deals that are strongly slanted in our favor. i mean, we raped them for a few years

this is about who gets the best end of a deal, and the person on the short end adjusting in time. in real life, you do it, i do it, everyone does it

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Unchecked, unregulated, and unsupported capitalism works great the vast majority of the time. But in the situations where it doesn't, the consequences can be devastating.

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the only thing "devastating" is that people who use a lot of data will have to pay more to do so. this is only an issue of cost

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You seem content to allow the US version of the internet to become less attractive to innovative companies,

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this thread is about mobile data plans. it isn't about the internet or ISPs

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It's just not smart to put our economy at a global disadvantage because you feel it would undermine the principles of capitalism to give it a helping hand.

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again, all you're doing is cost-shifting

you want regular/poor people to subsidize power users. there is a net effect on the economy. it's all about costs (and who pays)

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i'm saying that we don't have a right to these deals that are strongly slanted in our favor. i mean, we raped them for a few years

this is about who gets the best end of a deal, and the person on the short end adjusting in time. in real life, you do it, i do it, everyone does it

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Like I said, I'm not concerned about the consumer's point of view.

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the only thing "devastating" is that people who use a lot of data will have to pay more to do so. this is only an issue of cost 

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Again, there is much more to it than that, and until you realize that you will never see what the big deal is.

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this thread is about mobile data plans. it isn't about the internet or ISPs  ?

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Damn, SFP, you don't even understand that your carrier is your mobile ISP?

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again, all you're doing is cost-shifting 

you want regular/poor people to subsidize power users. there is a net effect on the economy. it's all about costs (and who pays)

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I don't want that, at all. Charge by the byte, or cap usage, or whatever, it's all fine. I have absolutely no problem with the high use customers paying their share. Actually that's preferable.

The problem, which you continue to either ignore or not understand, is how the practice of playing favorites by ISPs distorts the market for products and services that are accessed on the internet.

This is the toll road owner telling you that you can go to Walmart as often as you want, but you can only go to Target once a month. As a customer, eh whatever you can deal with it. But Target is fricked.

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then you're just being selfish and unrealistic

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not with mobile plans 

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What does being mobile have to do with anything?

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and that's life. i'm waiting for all of the threads complaining that KFC doesn't offer coke 

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I can go to KFC one day and Popeyes the next. I can buy coke at the grocery store, or from a vending machine. KFC is not the only conduit for Coke. My mobile carrier is my only conduit for mobile services.

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do you think things like NFL Package of Directv should be illegal? 

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No, why? Directv doesn't provide access to a critical global resource.

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what about broadcast rights in general of IP? 

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What about them?

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at waht point do you think that companies should have their ability to contract with other companies restricted? what is your clear line? 

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Hm, do you think the line is always clear? Or is there a reason we need judges and juries to make decisions? And why do we vote on shite if everything has to be crystal clear in order to do something? I said we need to be smart about it.

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For a relatively young guy, SFP is extremely set in his ways and unwilling to consider other viewpoints. Either that or he's trolling.

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I think it's like a debate class for him. You pick a side and fight tooth and nail to prove your side or dissect the other sides arguments despite anything else.

The point is to win the debate. Anything else, like common sense, processing the dialogue, valuing the other side, adapting positions, etc is all moot.

He'd make a great sitting politician as we know them now.