The belligerent statement from Verizon this week that it will not count any data used streaming its Go90 OTT video service, towards a mobile customer’s data limit, stinks of the beginnings of a test of the FCC’s net neutrality credentials. We sense that Verizon wants the FCC to tell it to stop so that it can go to the courts over Title II heavy handedness.
But after T-Mobile came out with its Binge On service launched in November late last year, it has been obvious that Verizon and AT&T had to work out how to respond. Binge-On effectively selects WiFi when it is available, to watch any one of what is approaching 30 sources of video, with that number rising all the time. Some of it will be watched over the T-Mobile network of course, but the software also lowers the density of all video that it carries, so that the network can handle it relatively unscathed. Go90 does neither of these things, it does not shift you to WiFi, and it does not limit the video quality.
The only thing preventing the video source from becoming a Binge-On source is the fact that the T-Mobile systems have to recognize it as video, so it cannot be entirely encrypted and it cannot be delivered using the UDP protocol. Even the small number of providers who are prevented by this, including YouTube, means that some net neutrality backers have called out the T-Mobile service, which of course has openness at the heart of its intentions.
Verizon is offering its Go90 service under its FreeBee Data 360 Program, which is a new sponsored data system, and so that it only allows the video traffic to be free if it belongs to Verizon or if Verizon is paid for its delivery by the content owner – a clear breach of the openness that the FCC sought to promote with its Title II imposition.
Verizon is almost daring the FCC to step in and it looks like it may have to, although it may sit and watch in the wings for while collects more facts and see how the service goes. Other providers of content that have opted to use its FreeBee Data include Heart Magazines, AOL and Gameday who each participated in a trial of per-click sponsored data which began in January and it says that FreeBee Data will become more widely available later this year.
However, Comcast did this back in July with its new Stream OTT product, claiming that the data used for the service doesn’t count against data caps because Comcast routes Stream TV data over bandwidth each home is not paying for. This was a specific exception allowed by the FCC rulings.
This is because every home DOCSIS router that Comcast installs can go faster than the service it is offering, and it is because of this that Comcast has been able to offer a second SSID on each of its WiFi routers. So claiming that this content is not coming over the internet is almost true – it will be being injected inside the ISPs’ network into an IP stream, but doesn’t come from the outside internet.
Before that, and even before Title II was adopted for broadband, AT&T launched a phone broadband service which included sponsored data about which the FCC has been in discussions with the operator.
We are not going to see the FCC take on all three, and it may be biding its time to see how the legal challenges to Title II pan out, before deciding what to do about these blatant tests of its character. But if we go back to the ruling it said there would be, “No Paid Prioritization: broadband providers may not favor some lawful Internet traffic over other lawful traffic in exchange for consideration of any kind—in other words, no “fast lanes.” This rule also bans ISPs from prioritizing content and services of their affiliates.” Unlike Comcast, Verizon cannot claim that the delivery of Go90 has no effect on the remainder of its internet delivered content – it will use the same air capacity.
So if Comcast is delivering content on bandwidth that is not being paid for and it is not charging another content owner for this, then perhaps it can get away with its rules. And AT&T has not proceeded with its sponsored data experiments. So this leaves us with Verizon and the FCC could begin considering a complaint against it, just as soon as the service launches.
FreeBee Data 360 will feature content in specific apps or websites while the separate FreeBee Data offering will exempt specific content like audio streams, video clips and app downloads on a per-click basis. At the moment the ability to stream Go90 for free only applies to Verizon’s postpaid users.
T-Mobile reported this week that its Binge On service has stimulated twice as much video viewing and user have streamed 34 petabytes of video using it. T-Mobile did not say how much of that video came over WiFi, and how much actually came over its own network – we suspect almost none. While T-Mobile does not control much WiFi of its own, it can force a service onto WiFi where credentials already exist within the phone – so your home and work WiFi for sure.
Verizon seems to suggest its defense is that its’ zero-rated Go90 video is not throttled back in the way that T-Mobile’s Binge On is. T-Mobile will only send 480p video to customers over the Binge On service. They can opt out of Binge On if they wish and see it in full HD or UHD, but then they will have to pay for the data. As we understand it Verizon offers no opt out, does not tamper with the video quality and gets paid extra for it one way or another. We expect the Verizon phone to ring shortly with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on the end of it, asking for an explanation.