Recently AT&T made a change to their terms of service for mobile broadband customers. **Edit: and apparently retracted it almost as fast, the section below is from the old and once again current terms, but my rant still applies. The removed verbage was specifically targeted at sling player with the term "user re-directed streams" added to the list of things you could not do** Here is the section of interest:
Examples of prohibited uses include, without limitation, the following: (i) server devices or host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, automated machine-to-machine connections or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing; (ii) as a substitute or backup for private lines, landlines or full-time or dedicated data connections;
This means, by way of example only, that checking email, surfing the Internet, downloading legally acquired songs, and/or visiting corporate intranets is permitted, but downloading movies using P2P file sharing services, web broadcasting, and/or for the operation of servers, telemetry devices and/or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition devices is prohibited.
Most people probably pick up on the idea here that you can check e-mail but not download a movie via bit torrent or limewire or something. The thing I think a lot of people don't get (fellow geeks aside) is just how bat shit insane these terms are. You see AT&T's network does not give a flip if you are downloading e-mail or said movie from a torrent. Both cause a transfer of 1's and 0's across the network from a given source (remote server) to a given destination (your device). The only difference in this particular example is one of volume. E-mail typically consists of a relatively small amount of data where a movie represents a relatively large amount of data. So why doesn't AT&T just say you can't download more than X amount of data? Because the plans these terms are referring to are 'unlimited' data plans (such as the iphone). Thus in effect they are saying you can download unlimited e-mail and no movies.
So here is the true insanity of this... the amount of data represented by 'unlimited e-mail' is .... wait for it.... unlimited. So if data is data then why does it mater if I download x amount of e-mail data versus the same amount of movie data?
Whether the source of the data is a Youtube server, E-mail server, Webpage or from a sling box makes no difference to your mobile device or to the AT&T network. In all cases this is delivery of content from a server to your mobile device. The only difference is the IP address where the content is coming from. The only aspect which may vary is the bandwidth required between the two sources.
Here is another nugget of insanity. They explicitly state downloading legally obtained music as a legitimate activity. However they explicitly state that streaming audio is not a legitimate activity. What is the difference between streaming and downloading? As far as the AT&T network is concerned, Absolutely nothing. Again as far as the network is concerned it is sending 1's and 0's from a source to a destination. The only difference here is how the device handles the data. Streaming data is played as it arrives. Downloaded content is played after it arrives. AT&T's concern is that users will 'stream' more content than they will 'download'. For example how many songs would you 'download' from itunes vrs 'stream' from XM? Again the crux of AT&T's problem is not what you are accessing but how much you are accessing. Technically speaking listening to a song via 'streamed XM' IS Downloading a legally acquired song assuming you have an XM account that allows access via the web.
So lets do this again. If I can download an unlimited amount of legally obtained songs which represents an unlimited amount of data... then why is X amount of play after I download content any different from X amount of play as I download content?
I could probably come up with a 100 different ways to say the same thing here... but ultimately this all comes down to pure "Troll Under the Bridge" stuff on the part of AT&T. Only to make it worse, in this case, you have already paid the damn troll for permission to cross the bridge and they are telling you what you can carry with you across the bridge. If you consider the 'no tethering* clause' then they are telling you what you can carry across the bridge and where you can go with it once you get across.
The FCC needs to step in here under concerns of false advertisement. The word unlimited should not be allowed if there is in fact a limit. The term should be consistently defined as 24/7 access at a given rate for the term of the contract. If the carriers want to create limits on how fast a device can transfer data across the network that is fine. Also, In addition to stipulating carriers adhere to the concept of net neutrality**, the idea that the provider has any say in where the information goes after it reaches my device (tethering) needs to be criminalized. If I access by means other than my contracted device the carriers have a beef, if I remove speed limitations and exceed the rate I pay for the carriers have a beef. But accessing data via the device within the access restrictions of my contract should be all a carrier can regulate. Not what I access or how I distribute it for my personal use.
*tethering is when you access the internet on your laptop (or any other device) via your mobile device. In effect this is turning your mobile device into a modem. Mobile carriers contend that there is a difference between accessing information on your mobile device and accessing that same information via your mobile device but displayed by another device. If the laptop connected directly to their network this would be true. However, in a tethering setup all transactions with the network are handled by the mobile device. To illustrate let us use an example. Using an I-phone to view a youtube clip and an iphone tethered to a computer viewing the same youtube clip. As far as AT&T's network is concerned the same information was transferred. The information was accessed by your iphone in both cases. The only difference is that when you view it on your computer the iphone passes the information along rather than displaying it on its screen.
**net neutrality refers to the concept that internet providers have no say in what information you access.*
