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AT&T Responds to Net Neutrality Concerns Regarding FaceTime Usage Policy

I wrote in the other thread and ATT's statement just solidified it further that they have no desire to proliferate Apple's Facetime protocol. This hurts Apple more than ATT in the long run since Skype and Tango (and others) all work on 3G and are platform agnostic.

Apple's would be smart to make FT a downloadable app. They'd also be smart by opening up the platform so app developers can incorporate facetime for various OSes.
 
Raftysworld said:
Props to AT&T. No one should be using heaving video streaming on wireless connections anyway. Just use your home internet. Problem solved.
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You sound like AT&T.

Hate paying for data? Don't use a phone! (why not let people use a phone without paying for data?)
Hate that you pay for data but can't connect or use the apps you want? Just use WiFi! (why force us to pay for data if you're always pushing your "free WiFi" or preventing us from running certain apps??)

AT&T's solution is always "just don't use it". That's not practical.
 
longofest said:
Honestly, I feel sometimes people complain about AT&T just to complain about AT&T. This is hardly a draconian move by them.. Remember that Verizon is FORCING people to use shared data plans and not even keeping the original plans around.

Of course, Sprint is being the nicest of them all and just saying "whatev", but I wouldn't switch to Sprint in any situation because of their abysmal network (at least in the DC area - yes, MUCH worse than AT&T)
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Well, technically, Verizon is keeping the same plans if you pay full price for your phone. ;)
 
I'm going to give Verizon or someone else a try next time around.
For pete's sake, AT&T just sell me the data and let me use it on whatever I want.

You shouldn't need net neutrality rules to tell you how to give your customers what they want -- how can they not understand that makes their service more valuable and thus more profitable?
 
We desperately need a consortium of tech companies (Google, Apple, Samsung, etc) to build out their own LTE network and end this nonsense. They have the cash, and it would be as disruptive to the industry as the iPhone was.
 
Should Verizon follow ATT's lead, it looks like I'll actually have a reason to jailbreak the iPhone in ages.

I can imagine a lot more ATT customers are going to look into jailbreaking iOS6 for their iphones because of this.
 
I don't see how allowing FaceTime on only some data plans is a net neutrality issue by itself.

If there's a NN issue, it already exists, because AT&T is blocking FaceTime from using data, but not other apps that may provide similar services. Perhaps that violates NN, perhaps it does not. (I think it does not, because AT&T does not have a competing videochat service that it allows).

But how does allowing it for some data plans but not others change whether blocking FaceTime for any customers is a violation of the NN rules?
 
May I humbly suggest that the person involved in this wonderfully consumer friendly decision take the nearest large piece of furniture and place it directly up his/her anus.

Just a suggestion from a Verizon user...:D
 
Based on AT&Ts logic, what's to stop them from allowing iMessages to be sent over cellular data? It's also a pre-installed app and CEO Randall Stephenson has already indicated that he's losing sleep over the feature since it's cutting into their revenue streams.

Blocking FaceTime over cellular data could be AT&Ts way of testing-the-water to see what the FCC would let them get away with. This is a very dangerous path to be going down that consumers need to be careful about their complacency.
 
Apple has screwed up iChat, Messages, and FaceTime so bad that we have switched to other apps. Screw them. I spent hours trying to get iChat to work work with PC AIM and it just was not possible. Now it could well have been AIM that was the problem, but that's not what I expect from Apple apps.
 
This is an extraordinary interpretation of the law - one that must have been poured over by lawyers before deciding that this interpretation would not be illegal.

Their statement is also an amazing bait and switch. Not only do they spell out how they're not complying with a (presumably) nebulous part of the law, they go on to say how great they are for letting you use your iPhone at all!

Amazing.
 
This is why I'm never going with AT&T or Verizon. They are price gouging and people are accepting it.
 
Mad Mac Maniac said:
So conflicted... I hate at&t... but I have unlimited data.....

Plus I'm on a family plan so I only pay $10 for voice and $7.50 for unlimited text in addition to my $30 unlimited data....

Too good a deal to pass up...
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AND rollover minutes. The grass is NOT greener at Verizon. Pick whoever has a signal in your area.

But man, Verizon sucks if you can't get LTE service. Slow 3G. Non existent 2G. No data & voice at the same time.

AT&T provides 2 flavors of 3G. A 4 Mb version (vs. Verizon 1 Mb) and HDSPA+ which is something like 8Mb. And now they have pretty competitive LTE as well. All of which provide data and voice at same time. Including 2G. PLUS rollover minutes. And if you're like us with unlimited data, life is good.

They're screwing us with the mobile hotspot thing though. That's why I've got Verizon iPad. Since rollover isn't applicable, and I can't get unlimited data on it, them not charging an extra $20 a month just to turn on a mobile hotspot made them a brain dead choice in the iPad.

Plus, one or the other is sure to have coverage. I just turn the Verizon cell service on / off as necessary.
 
Compile 'em all said:
This is world wide, not just in the states. My guess is that it is part of the contract with carriers.
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True - apple effectively gives all carriers this control - which still sucks.

Still only seems like AT&T that is blocking it right now.
 
AT&T has dropped the unlimited plan - to them "unlimited" now means 3GB. I just got my first warning for exceeding 3GB on my unlimited plan. I will be moving service when I can.
 
This FaceTime thing won't lose you customers.

Not as much as your lack of LTE markets will. Expand your LTE coverage and fast or come September 12, you will lose a ton of customers.

Interesting that they say they can't block access to Skype video chats because of Net Neutrality but that they are using a loophole that FaceTime is built in as grounds for doing so because it is not a covered provision.

s.p.i.n.e.l.e.s.s.
 
Raftysworld said:
Props to AT&T. No one should be using heaving video streaming on wireless connections anyway. Just use your home internet. Problem solved.
Click to expand...

The problem is you should be able to use the data that you pay for however you want. If I want to use my 2GB on tethering, I should be able to. Same with FaceTime, Skype, etc.
 
WhoDaKat said:
Save us Apple! We need you to be a cell provider! They screw YOUR customers, they refuse to push YOUR phone, how much more are you going to take before you throw us a life line?

(Wouldn't it be awesome if Apple said, ok, now Facetime is a downloadable app! lol)
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Apple was looking into buying a wireless spectrum...they also were looking into making the iPhone work on Wifi only.
 
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