[ NNSquad ] Re: T-Mobile UK: Don't Download, Stream, or Watch Video On Your Phone!

[Matt Larsen - Lists <lists@manageisp.com>]

This is a perfect description of how mobile broadband networks should be 
used.   Kudos to T-Mobile for coming up with an excellent description of 
the problem and a fair resolution.

If only the domestic carriers would be this honest with their 
customers.   I much prefer this to the US approach of advertising access 
to everything and ending up with totally overloaded networks that are 
barely usable.

Matt Larsen
www.wirelesscowboys.com

 [ Matt, you're making a frankly ridiculous generalization.  It
   reminds me of AT&T's reaction to dial-up modems in the beginning,
   where they claimed that you should only run data over their
   special, super-expensive data circuits, that the voice network
   wasn't designed for data so could not "safely" be used for data,
   and that using dial-up modems would take too many lines and
   interfere with other subscribers.  All hogwash.

   At any given moment, at any given locale, wireless performance
   will be a function of available bandwidth, number of users, type
   of RF and modulation/encoding in use, backhaul capacity, and so
   on.  In one spot at one moment, there may be so many users running
   their various applications that the performance suffers for
   everyone.  At other times, there may be oodles of bandwidth and
   backhaul capacity to spare.

   I won't address the UK legal situation, but I suspect that a
   similar attempt to so drastically cut allocations for already
   contracted users would meet stiff legal challenges in the U.S.
   And let's face it, the carriers have made "video on your cell
   phone" one of their big selling points!  To suddenly say, "Oh,
   golly, now that you've signed up, don't do any of that stuff any
   more!" is directly akin to "bait and switch."  It would be like
   an auto manufacturer hiding in the fine print that the warranty
   is void if you exceed 25 miles per hour.

   Unacceptable.

      -- Lauren Weinstein 
         NNSquad Moderator]
 - - -

On 1/11/2011 1:00 PM, Lauren Weinstein wrote:
> T-Mobile UK: Don't Download, Stream, or Watch Video On Your Phone!
>
> http://bit.ly/gE9ATC  (T-Mobile UK)
>
>    "If you want to download, stream and watch video clips, save that
>     stuff for your home broadband."
>
> --Lauren--
> Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com)
> http://www.vortex.com/lauren
> Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
> Co-Founder, PFIR (People For Internet Responsibility): http://www.pfir.org
> Founder, NNSquad (Network Neutrality Squad): http://www.nnsquad.org
> Founder, GCTIP (Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance):
>     http://www.gctip.org
> Founder, PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
> Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
> Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
> Google Buzz: http://bit.ly/lauren-buzz