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$12 A Month For Facebook – Sprint Tramples Over Net Neutrality With New Prepaid
Posted on 7/31/14 at 1:40 pm
Posted on 7/31/14 at 1:40 pm
quote:
The Virgin Mobile Custom plan, sold under Sprint’s Virgin Mobile brand, provides unlimited access to one of four social media services – Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest – on top of your data plan for $12 a month. An additional $10 will net unlimited use of all four, while $5 more grants unlimited streaming from any one music app. The base plan also includes 20 minutes of talk time and 20 texts, both of which can be upgraded. Lines start at $6.98 a month, $5 extra for “unlimited” access. Plans can be adjusted on the fly, even daily if so desired.
quote:
The new plan embodies the anti-net neutrality schemes advocates have been warning about for years. Instead of allowing data to flow unimpeded, Virgin Mobile Custom very clearly discriminates against a huge number of apps, ultimately relegating them to more restrictive data plans. If Sprint’s goal, as Mr. Draper implies, is to provide the Internet at palatable prices for poorer consumers, perhaps lower-cost (the cheapest data package Virgin is offering starts at $8 a month) capped but open access with an option to pay for more might be more appropriate . Heck, T-Mobile does it free for tablets – why can’t Sprint do the same for prepaid phones?
Top Comment
quote:LINK
You've got to be kidding me...
When people sign up for this, it will reinforce the fake view that consumers want tiered content packages for internet services.
This will only help destroy net neutrality...
What do you think?
7
Posted on 7/31/14 at 1:41 pm to jeff5891
frick Sprint for that
Posted on 7/31/14 at 2:12 pm to jeff5891
Not saying this is a good thing at all, but Sprint isn't blocking Facebook from customers who don't pay this, are they? They're just excluding it from the data cap if you pay them a ridiculous amount per month. T-Mobile did something similar with music streaming services, but for free (or included in the price). T-Mobile may have set the precedent for more data cap scams, and Sprint is the first to make it transparently shitty. Next will be price hikes on expensive "general" data plans, and nickel and dime pay-for-specific-access plans for not much less than many of us 'grandfathered' unlimited users pay now.
Ironically, everyone wanted this for cable TV.
Yes, and people will indeed sign up for it. Tablets and smart phones have paved the way for the general public -- including baby boomers, housewives, and Joe Moron -- to have a significant, perhaps even overwhelming, voice in this market.
Ironically, everyone wanted this for cable TV.
quote:
When people sign up for this, it will reinforce the fake view that consumers want tiered content packages for internet services.
Yes, and people will indeed sign up for it. Tablets and smart phones have paved the way for the general public -- including baby boomers, housewives, and Joe Moron -- to have a significant, perhaps even overwhelming, voice in this market.
Posted on 7/31/14 at 2:30 pm to ILikeLSUToo
quote:
Next will be price hikes on expensive "general" data plans, and nickel and dime pay-for-specific-access plans for not much less than many of us 'grandfathered' unlimited users pay now.
I'm not as concerned about this aspect as I am about the other end. If this catches on (which, as you pointed out, it probably will), then other social networks, photo apps, and music services will be at a huge disadvantage. This sort of thing absolutely cripples competition and innovation.
Posted on 7/31/14 at 4:52 pm to jeff5891
sounds like an offer for suckers.
I mean how much data do these services really use? You'd have to be a pretty hardcore food photographer to get 1 GB of instagram use per month.
I mean how much data do these services really use? You'd have to be a pretty hardcore food photographer to get 1 GB of instagram use per month.
Posted on 7/31/14 at 9:49 pm to jeff5891
Freaking Sprint. The worst cell phone provider on the planet.
Posted on 7/31/14 at 10:22 pm to baytiger
quote:
sounds like an offer for suckers.
I mean how much data do these services really use? You'd have to be a pretty hardcore food photographer to get 1 GB of instagram use per month.
My thoughts as well. This maybe helps a handful of people, but for most people it's a useless deal.
I'm not too alarmed by this. Like someone else pointed out, they're not restricting access so I don't see what the big deal is.
If this is as bad as the anti-net neutrality actions get then we're all in a good place
Posted on 8/1/14 at 12:20 am to ZereauxSum
quote:
I'm not too alarmed by this. Like someone else pointed out, they're not restricting access so I don't see what the big deal is.
But they are restricting access, to every site/app except for the select few that they sell unlimited access to. It is a huge, huge deal, especially if this catches on due to consumers failing to recognize the big deal and government failing to govern. It's hard to overstate the disadvantage for competitors to these specific apps.
Posted on 8/1/14 at 12:48 am to Korkstand
The NEW VERIZON PREMIUM DATA PLAN! $99/mo for 1 line*, unlimited talk/text, base data plan** plus unlimited access to your favorite social networks, more than 100 of the nation's top online news and e-commerce websites, including unlimited access to all of verizon.com. PLUS! 2GB of data for any of the top music streaming sites on Verizon's certified digital media access partner list.
ADD HD VIDEO STREAMING TO YOUR PACKAGE! Choose from one of our data plans for additional access to up to 3 of the numerous popular video streaming sources part of Verizon's access partner list, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vimeo, HBO Go, and Amazon Instant Video.
Choose 1 source and get 2GB of streaming bandwidth ($14.99/mo)
Choose 2 sources and get 5GB of streaming bandwidth ($21.99/mo)
Choose 3 sources and get 12GB of streaming bandwidth ($34.99/mo)
*Additional lines (shared data) $29.99/month. Price excludes taxes, surcharges, and monthly Verizon Edge Device Fees.
**Base data plan includes 200MB for unrestricted internet access.
ADD HD VIDEO STREAMING TO YOUR PACKAGE! Choose from one of our data plans for additional access to up to 3 of the numerous popular video streaming sources part of Verizon's access partner list, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vimeo, HBO Go, and Amazon Instant Video.
Choose 1 source and get 2GB of streaming bandwidth ($14.99/mo)
Choose 2 sources and get 5GB of streaming bandwidth ($21.99/mo)
Choose 3 sources and get 12GB of streaming bandwidth ($34.99/mo)
*Additional lines (shared data) $29.99/month. Price excludes taxes, surcharges, and monthly Verizon Edge Device Fees.
**Base data plan includes 200MB for unrestricted internet access.
This post was edited on 8/1/14 at 12:27 pm
Posted on 8/1/14 at 7:47 am to ILikeLSUToo
quote:
Yes, and people will indeed sign up for it. Tablets and smart phones have paved the way for the general public -- including baby boomers, housewives, and Joe Moron -- to have a significant, perhaps even overwhelming, voice in this market.
The pendulum constantly swings back and forth, we've gone from Walled Garden (AOL/Compuserve) the the wild wild west of the open Internet, but people find access to everything any human knows or thinks overwhelming, so we appear to be swinging back towards the Walled Garden model (social media filtering the web for us), and after a decade or so there people will start feeling closed in and push the pendulum back towards open access.
Posted on 8/1/14 at 2:08 pm to Korkstand
quote:
But they are restricting access, to every site/app except for the select few that they sell unlimited access to. It is a huge, huge deal, especially if this catches on due to consumers failing to recognize the big deal and government failing to govern. It's hard to overstate the disadvantage for competitors to these specific apps.
I hear what you're saying, but as a practical matter I don't see it that way. I really don't think people choose what social media sites they use based on data.
Like I said, only a very small handful of people would actually benefit from paying more for unlimited access to these sites, so I can't really see the next Facebook being hindered by this.
Posted on 8/1/14 at 6:53 pm to ZereauxSum
quote:But they might now.
I really don't think people choose what social media sites they use based on data.
And that's the whole fricking problem.
Just create a scenario in your head, regardless of how outrageous, and that's exactly what could happen. Once the floodgates are open, there are no bounds.
Consumers should pay for Mbps - and perhaps capped monthly bandwidth. What you use that connection for is up to you.
Posted on 8/1/14 at 7:43 pm to drizztiger
quote:
But they might now.
I seriously doubt it.
My wife uses Facebook a lot. It's probably the #1 app she uses on her phone. For the current "period" (I have no idea how long this is but I estimate a year or two) she has used 16GB of cellular data. Facebook is only 2GB. These things simply don't use a lot of data.
I can't imagine my wife or anyone else jumping ship from a social media site because it uses 12.5% of the total data and an alternative uses none and costs an additional $12/month.
quote:
Just create a scenario in your head, regardless of how outrageous, and that's exactly what could happen.
If this is true, did Verizon cause this? Or did the SCOTUS?
quote:
Consumers should pay for Mbps - and perhaps capped monthly bandwidth. What you use that connection for is up to you.
How does Verizon's offer of unlimited social media at an additional fee prevent people from using their connections how they want?
Posted on 8/1/14 at 9:44 pm to ZereauxSum
Posted on 8/1/14 at 10:04 pm to drizztiger
Posted on 8/1/14 at 10:34 pm to jeff5891
i know people are probably freaking out, but doesn't this allow people to save a lot of money?
Posted on 8/1/14 at 10:36 pm to Korkstand
quote:
But they are restricting access, to every site/app except for the select few that they sell unlimited access to
not really
they're allowing you unlimited access for certain sites, if you want.
Posted on 8/1/14 at 11:05 pm to SlowFlowPro
quote:
not really
they're allowing you unlimited access for certain sites, if you want.
The fear is that these "unlimited access sites" won't be getting faster connections, they'll keep the same speeds currently available but people that don't go in for the tiered service will get throttled (to push them toward going to a tiered service).
With that, any site that isn't paying to be on this "premium" service will be less attractive to potential customers due to the slower access.
Nothing good can come of this.
Posted on 8/1/14 at 11:13 pm to Bard
quote:
Nothing good can come of this.
lower prices for non-power users are likely to come of this (like these plans), and that's something "good"
perhaps not good for you (or me), but it's good for somebody
Posted on 8/1/14 at 11:55 pm to jeff5891
Net Neutrality never applied to mobile anyway.
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