Is T-Mobile going against net neutrality with their Music Freedom service?

For those of you who don't know, earlier this yearT-Mobile began allowing music streaming from certain services  that didn't count against your monthly data usage. They began with Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody, etc, and recently added Soundcloud and Google Play Music to the list.

This was welcomed news to customers who don't have unlimited data usage, and especially those with basic plans with minimal data allowances.

However, proponents of net neutrality have been opposed to the Music Freedom service on the principal that not all data is being treated equally.

Thoughts?

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Does T-Mobile count as an ISP?

TMo is only a cell provider. They don't do home internet.

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Does T-Mobile count as an ISP?

TMo is only a cell provider. They don't do home internet.

As far as I'm aware, strictly speaking "net neutrality" only applies to actual ISP's and the government. I don't know if T-Mobile would technically fall under that.

Well, they're providing access to internet sites and services, so I would expect them to have to play by the same rules as a traditional ISP.

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This user has been blacklisted from posting on the forums. Until the blacklist is lifted, all posts made by this user have been hidden and require a Sep7agon^® SecondClass Premium Membership to view.

Does T-Mobile count as an ISP?

TMo is only a cell provider. They don't do home internet.

As far as I'm aware, strictly speaking "net neutrality" only applies to actual ISP's and the government. I don't know if T-Mobile would technically fall under that.

Well, they're providing access to internet sites and services, so I would expect them to have to play by the same rules as a traditional ISP.

That is what you would expect, but one of the things I've come to learn about law is that it usually isn't that simlpe. A single word or definition can be read a lot of different ways.

Either way, I'd be inclined to say that this doesn't infringe on net neutrality as there are no disadvantages for customers. T-Mobile is not toggling speeds or making you pay more for certain services. They simply listened to what their clients and statistics said, and then made it so that the most popular music services don't deduct from your mobile data. Admittedly, this is very debatable though.

This is my position too, but I do see it as a bit of grey area in net neutrality, and I see why people might be bothered by this.

No data is being prioritized by TMo. Nothing is being sped up or throttled. It's still all traveling through the pipes the same, it just doesn't effect the customer's data limit.

that not all data is being treated equally.

Thoughts?

dat socialism doe

that not all data is being treated equally.

Thoughts?

dat socialism doe

..huh?

No data is being prioritized by TMo. Nothing is being sped up or throttled. It's still all traveling through the pipes the same, it just doesn't effect the customer's data limit.

Yeah,  that's what I'm thinking and why it's not an issue in regards to net neutrality.
Heck, this is probably a good thing in a way. With people seeing such heavy usage not affect anything negatively, more folks may start to wonder why the hell cellular data plans so freaking expensive and maybe sway other carriers to get competitive like this.

Meanwhile Comcast is the devil for making Netflix pay for more infrastructure so that they can deliver higher quality streams.

Meanwhile Comcast is the devil for making Netflix pay for more infrastructure so that they can deliver higher quality streams.

that scenario is different, though.

Meanwhile Comcast is the devil for making Netflix pay for more infrastructure so that they can deliver higher quality streams.

that scenario is different, though.

Data isn't being prioritized in that scenario, either, it's just going down a different road.

Imagine the internet as a highway.  Netflix is taking the bus lane.

Meanwhile Comcast is the devil for making Netflix pay for more infrastructure so that they can deliver higher quality streams.

that scenario is different, though.

Data isn't being prioritized in that scenario, either, it's just going down a different road.

Imagine the internet as a highway.  Netflix is taking the bus lane.

In that scenario, Comcast is charging a different price to Netflix, something that would be prohibitive to a smaller company.

Meanwhile Comcast is the devil for making Netflix pay for more infrastructure so that they can deliver higher quality streams.

that scenario is different, though.

Data isn't being prioritized in that scenario, either, it's just going down a different road.

Imagine the internet as a highway.  Netflix is taking the bus lane.

In that scenario, Comcast is charging a different price to Netflix, something that would be prohibitive to a smaller company.

They're charging a different price to Cogent, Netflix's ISP, who are in turn charging Netflix, because of the additional infrastructure that's having to be built specifically for Netflix traffic.

Meanwhile Comcast is the devil for making Netflix pay for more infrastructure so that they can deliver higher quality streams.

that scenario is different, though.

Data isn't being prioritized in that scenario, either, it's just going down a different road.

Imagine the internet as a highway.  Netflix is taking the bus lane.

In that scenario, Comcast is charging a different price to Netflix, something that would be prohibitive to a smaller company.

They're charging a different price to Cogent, Netflix's ISP, who are in turn charging Netflix, because of the additional infrastructure that's having to be built specifically for Netflix traffic.

Seems like a cop-out on Comcast's part, though. Instead of "our customers need more bandwidth, we should beef up our network" they go with "our customers use a lot of Netflix, we'd better charge Netflix more."

Meanwhile Comcast is the devil for making Netflix pay for more infrastructure so that they can deliver higher quality streams.

that scenario is different, though.

Data isn't being prioritized in that scenario, either, it's just going down a different road.

Imagine the internet as a highway.  Netflix is taking the bus lane.

In that scenario, Comcast is charging a different price to Netflix, something that would be prohibitive to a smaller company.

They're charging a different price to Cogent, Netflix's ISP, who are in turn charging Netflix, because of the additional infrastructure that's having to be built specifically for Netflix traffic.

Seems like a cop-out on Comcast's part, though. Instead of "our customers need more bandwidth, we should beef up our network" they go with "our customers use a lot of Netflix, we'd better charge Netflix more."

That's definitely a valid argument.  If they had gone the Time Warner route and negotiated with Netflix to share the infrastructure costs, this whole issue would be non-existent.