FTC Fines TracFone $40million

For throttling users speeds

[Brett_Tabke]

[recode.net...]

the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday ordered prepaid mobile provider TracFone to pay $40 million for slowing down the speeds of customers who had paid for unlimited data service.

While the case was specific to TracFone, a number of carriers still offering unlimited service have been slowing down, or throttling, the speeds of customers who use more than a certain amount of data. Both the FTC and Federal Communications Commission have taken a dim view of the practice.

“The issue here is simple: When you promise consumers ‘unlimited,’ that means unlimited,” said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a statement Wednesday.

[engine]

Isn't this just going to be inevitable with "unlimited" plans. The insatiable demand for data is unlikely to slow. Surely, unlimited plans will disappear?

[weeks]

I think so, engine. And, how many free web services have we seen come and go. I once built a quick e-commerce site for a client with one product to sell on a free e-commerce site. Six months later, I got to build it again as they went under. Free and unlimited as a biz model doesn't work.

I was looking at TracFone last month. Looked perfect for me, and a lot cheaper. Pain to work via the mail, but, OK. But, the more I looked at it, the weirder they looked. I went with one of the big four. In two years I'll looking again.

[thecoalman]

.....and unlimited as a biz model doesn't work.

It worked in the past becsue the major bandwidth users were few. It's a great marketing tool they don't want to let go of, with all these high bandwidth services available to Joe six pack it's no longer sustainable.