YouTube says T-Mobile is downgrading videos. Does that violate net neutrality?
When T-Mobile introduced its 鈥淏inge On鈥� streaming program last month, the premise was simple: watch Netflix, Hulu, and other services at lower-than-HD quality on your phone, and that video won鈥檛 count against your monthly data allowance.
But on Tuesday, YouTube accused T-Mobile of lowering the quality of all video delivered to its subscribers, not just the video that鈥檚 part of the Binge On program.聽
鈥淩educing data charges can be good for users, but it doesn鈥檛 justify throttling all video services, especially without explicit user consent,鈥� a YouTube spokesman The Wall Street Journal.
T-Mobile automatically enables Binge On for any customers who have a data plan of 3 GB or more per month, including those with unlimited data plans, although customers can choose to opt out of the program. And T-Mobile applies the lower-quality streaming, which it says in is at least 鈥淒VD quality,鈥� to all video apps. In other words: customers can opt out of Binge On, but they might not know how 鈥� and if they don鈥檛, they鈥檒l find all their video, not just what鈥檚 delivered from Binge On partners, down-sampled to less than HD quality.
YouTube, owned by Alphabet (formerly Google), says this policy runs afoul of net neutrality rules put in place earlier this year by the Federal Communications Commission. Those rules say that Internet providers may not throttle traffic flowing across their networks, except for technical reasons, such as easing network congestion. By throttling video data, T-Mobile is unfairly discriminating against all video applications, YouTube says, and interfering with customers鈥� ability to access important services. T-Mobile didn鈥檛 directly respond to YouTube鈥檚 accusations, but chief executive officer John Legere on Tuesday that customers have 鈥渃omplete control to turn [Binge On] on/off at will.鈥�
Binge On has already caught the attention of some net neutrality advocates who argue that it and other 鈥渮ero rating鈥� programs offer an unfair advantage to content providers who can afford to make deals with Internet providers. The FCC has said that it will examine zero-rating policies on a case-by-case basis to determine whether they violate net neutrality principles, but so far it hasn鈥檛 publicly voiced any concerns about such programs. At a meeting in November, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler Binge On as 鈥渉ighly innovative and highly competitive.鈥�
FCC officials sent letters earlier this month to Comcast, AT&T, and T-Mobile, asking the companies to explain the technical and policy details of their zero-rating programs. Company representatives will meet with the FCC early in 2016, The Washington Post.
