zerorating
Latest
Vodafone's paid zero-rating Passes are now available
Attention social media butterflies, chatterboxes and serial streamers: Vodafone Passes are now live. If you're catching up, Passes are Vodafone's take on a zero-rating scheme. Unlike Three and some other networks that help you preserve your precious monthly allowance by including, as a standard plan perk, "free" data towards a few services, Passes are paid bolt-ons. Buy the Chat Pass for £3 per month, for example, and you can use WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Viber Messenger as much as you want without touching a kilobyte of your regular data ration.
Three is adding 'free' Apple Music data to Go Binge plans
Zero-rated services, it seems, are here to stay. Almost every major UK network has revealed its own take on the concept, offering "free" data when you use specific apps on your phone. Three's version, Go Binge, launched in July with a handful of partners including Netflix, Deezer and SoundCloud. Today, to coincide with the launch of the iPhone X, the company has announced a new addition: Apple Music. The service joins the Go Binge family on November 27th and will be eligible for customers with an "advanced" contract or SIM-only plan with at least 4GB of data.
Vodafone’s introducing a zero-rating scheme too
Just as several of its carrier peers have done recently, Vodafone will soon be jumping on the zero-rating bandwagon. Vodafone Passes, as they're called, are a selection of paid bolt-ons that'll offer unlimited data towards several music and video streaming services, as well as some social media and messaging apps.
Vodafone's Voxi SIMs come with 'free' social media data
Vodafone is so desperate to be down with the kids, it's launching a new mobile network. Voxi, a sub-brand of Vodafone, will offer three SIM-only plans aimed at people aged 25 and under. All of them include "free" data for the following social media apps: Facebook and Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Pinterest, Snapchat, Twitter and Viber. The rest of your allowance can then be saved for the essentials — emails, navigation, that sort of thing — and hefty streaming apps such as YouTube or Spotify.
EE is offering six-month Apple Music trials with ‘free’ data
It's only been eight days since Three announced it was zero-rating data for popular streaming services like Netflix, but already the operator is finding itself in good company. Earlier this week, Virgin Mobile added Twitter to the list of messaging services it had made "free" to access, and now EE is getting in on the act with an extension of its Apple Music streaming trial. From July 19th, new and existing customers on all EE pay monthly handset and SIM only plans will be able to claim six months of free streaming, which won't count towards their monthly data allowance.
Virgin Mobile makes Twitter ‘free’ to access
If you have a 4G plan with Virgin Mobile, you can now access Twitter without diving in to your monthly data allowance. That means you can scroll through your feed, check your mentions and respond to pressing Direct Messages without fear of incurring any charges. The "data-free" access joins Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, which the company first offered to subscribers last November. The only catch is that you can't stream live video through the app — so if you want to watch the news or catch up with the day's Wimbledon action, you'll need to look elsewhere.
Three’s ‘Go Binge’ plans offer ‘free’ data for Netflix streaming
To better compete with EE, Vodafone and O2, Three is introducing a zero-rating scheme in the UK. The network operator has teamed up with Netflix, TVPlayer, Deezer and SoundCloud to offer inclusive streaming with select mobile contracts. So when you watch or listen to these services on the go, they won't count towards your monthly data cap. The move, while contentious for net neutrality advocates, will no doubt be welcomed by consumers. There is, however, a pretty big catch: to take advantage of the new perk, you'll need to upgrade to a "Go Binge" plan, which Three admits will be slightly more expensive than your current, equivalent contract.
Cox expands its 1TB data caps to more territories
Cox is bringing its terabyte internet data caps to a bunch of new territories, having already introduced the plan to Cleveland, Ohio; Omaha, Nebraska; Sun Valley, Idaho; Florida, and Georgia. As a result, customers in Arizona, Las Vegas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma will now also have to pay $10 for every 50GB of data they consume over the cap -- Cox hasn't announced when it will introduce it to other markets.
Canada strengthens net neutrality with zero-rating crackdown
In a victory for net neutrality, Canada's telecom regulator has ruled against a carrier offering 'free' music streaming as part of a zero-rating scheme. Quebecor's 'Unlimited Music' allows premium Videotron subscribers to use select streaming apps, such as Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal, without the data counting towards their monthly allowance. Many believe this type of scheme violates the principles of net neutrality, which argue all data should be treated equally. If certain apps are 'free' to use, others -- which could offer a superior experience, but simply don't have the cash to be involved in a carrier's program -- are put at an unfair disadvantage.
Verizon adds cult TV shows to its Go90 video service
Go90, Verizon's homegrown video network, is making a play for fans of cult TV all across the country after signing a deal with Warner Bros.. From today, the service is the new home of classic shows like Babylon 5, Fringe and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Then, in May, the beloved detective drama Veronica Mars will land on the service.
FCC chairman Ajit Pai calls net neutrality a 'mistake'
New FCC chairman Ajit Pai has made his views on net neutrality clear in the past: He's against it. But today at Mobile World Congress, Pai gave a wide-ranging speech in which he made his most pointed comments against net neutrality since taking over as chairman. When discussing the rules put into place in early 2015, Pai said they were "a mistake" and praised "light touch" internet regulation -- something that's sure to be on the FCC's agenda going forward.
AT&T tweaks its unlimited data plans to offer tethering
Remember when AT&T announced that it would once again offer unlimited data packages, and they were a little underwhelming? Sensing its error, the company has taken the opportunity to roll out a tweaked plan to ease the pain of your wallet. AT&T Unlimited Plus offers unlimited calls, texts and 22GB of high speed data before you hit the throttling wall for $90 a month. Even better, the plan now offers 10GB tethering data per line -- something that was omitted from the prior set of plans.
The FCC stops investigating carrier's 'zero-rating' plans
Now that there's a new voice atop the FCC, priorities are changing. As part of a "Friday night news dump" -- as it's being called by fellow commissioner Mignon Clyburn -- the regulator announced it's done investigating carriers for "zero rating" programs that exclude some services from monthly data limits. T-Mobile's BingeOn, AT&T's DirecTV streaming and Verizon's Go90 have all been criticized as violating the principles of net neutrality, by treating some data differently from others. On cable, Comcast has had similar questions about its video-on-demand streaming (like the new support for Roku) and Stream TV.
AT&T and Verizon defend their zero-rating policies to the FCC
AT&T and Verizon have pointed words for the FCC. In early December, FCC chief of wireless telecommunication Jon Wilkins sent separate letters to AT&T and Verizon warning that their zero-rating deals appeared to violate net neutrality rules. Yesterday, both companies responded with their own letters to Wilkins defending their programs as "pro-consumer."
FCC accuses AT&T and Verizon of violating net neutrality
The FCC has a few things to say about AT&T and Verizon's takes on net neutrality. Jon Wilkins, the commission's chief of wireless telecommunication, wrote separate letters to both telcos highlighting concerns about recent zero-rating moves -- when consumed data doesn't count against your monthly allotment.
Facebook is trying to bring its basic internet services to the US
Facebook initially launched "Free Basics" as a way to bring basic internet services to countries with limited or no traditional internet connectivity, but now it sounds like the company is working with the White House to bring the program to the US for the first time. According to the Washington Post, Facebook is actively exploring how it can bring Free Basics to "low income and rural Americans" who can't afford broadband internet either at home or through a smartphone. But the catch will be doing so without attracting the regulatory attention that got Free Basics banned in India earlier this year.
DirecTV now streams many more channels on your phone
AT&T is pushing hard to get you streaming DirecTV on your smartphone. An update to the DirecTV iOS and Android apps mean you can now stream many more of the TV channels you can get at home. In The Verge's testing, the only big exceptions were 4K content, adult channels and pay-per-view. Oh, and you now have an easy way to watch recorded shows -- you can either download them to watch offline or stream them directly from your DVR.
EU net neutrality guidelines close key 'fast lane' loopholes
When the European Union passed its net neutrality laws in 2015, it left a few big loopholes that many were worried would undermine the rules. Would your internet provider have free rein to exempt its own services from data caps, for example, or slow down competing services? You might not have to worry quite so much. The EU's electronic communications regulators have posted guidelines that, for the most part, rule out the potential abuses that came from the laws' vague wording.
FreedomPop offers unlimited WhatsApp chats in over 30 countries
Don't want to pay a fortune for mobile service, but can't stand the thought of being unable to message your friends? FreedomPop thinks it can help. The sometimes-free carrier has launched an offer that gives you free, unlimited WhatsApp messaging in over 30 countries, including the US. And yes, that includes when you travel -- it should be that much easier to let the folks back home know how you're doing. In a chat with VentureBeat, the company says that there's "really no reason" you need to pay for voice or text in the modern era. This is just taking a logical step, he argues albeit an odd one when WhatsApp isn't nearly as popular in the US as it is elsewhere.
Tech alliance asks the FCC to investigate data cap exceptions
Some big names in tech don't believe that the FCC's net neutrality rules do enough to keep internet providers honest. A group of dozens of companies and advocacy groups (including Etsy, Foursquare, Kickstarter, Mozilla and Reddit) has sent a letter to the FCC asking it to publicly investigate the practice of zero rating, or exempting services from data caps. While the strategy isn't strictly illegal, the alliance is worried that internet providers are using zero rating to make an end run around net neutrality. After all, the ISPs are favoring certain sites over others -- you may be less likely to try that new video service if it cuts into your data allotment.
