That video streamed to Xbox 360s through Comcast’s soon-to-launch Xfinity...
That video streamed to Xbox 360s through Comcast’s soon-to-launch Xfinity VOD app won’t count toward its broadband subscribers’ data usage raise net neutrality concerns, Public Knowledge said. Comcast said in FAQ about the forthcoming service that the video is streamed…
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to the Xbox over its private IP network, not the public Internet, and therefore isn’t subject to bandwidth caps (http://xrl.us/bmzh6n). “This type of arrangement is exactly the type of situation the Federal Communication Commission’s rules on the Open Internet were designed to prevent,” Public Knowledge CEO Gigi Sohn said. “This is nothing less than a wake-up call to the Commission to show it is serious about protecting the Open Internet,” she said. “It also shows, once again, that the Commission should take the first steps toward understanding data caps.” Comcast said its policies for the Xbox 360 fully comply with the commission’s open Internet rules and the company’s own commitments to an open Internet. “Any XfinityTV service that travels over the public internet, including XfinityTV.com and our Xfinity TV app on mobile devices, counts toward our data usage threshold,” a spokeswoman said. On the other hand, the Xbox 360 service is delivered in a way that’s similar to typical VOD delivery, she said. “Your Xbox essentially acts as an additional cable box for your existing cable services ... as a result, our data caps do not apply.” Comcast may be right that the practice doesn’t violate FCC rules, Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood said. “Unfortunately, such anti-competitive tricks may be allowed by loopholes in the FCC’s Open Internet rules, proving once again that the FCC failed to deliver on the promise of real Net Neutrality.”