Data caps may have the same “damaging effect”...
Data caps may have the same “damaging effect" as Internet traffic discrimination that net neutrality debates focus on, House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said Tuesday during a briefing at the Capitol. She emphasized the danger of certain…
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corporate relationships that can affect such usage-based pricing arrangements, where streaming from a company like Netflix might count against an ISP’s data cap but streaming from an affiliate of that ISP would not: “That’s where the thorn in the ointment is,” Eshoo said. She requested the Government Accountability Office look into these issues last year, and the GAO presented its preliminary findings Tuesday, with the final report to come in November. Mark Goldstein, head of the GAO’s physical infrastructure division, noted that the four major wireless providers have all applied usage-based pricing (UBP) to some degree and many wireline providers “slowly and surely” are as well. But consumers are largely confused, both about their plans and about how much data they consume, Goldstein said. Consumers seemed to have much more negative reactions to wireline UBP than wireless, he added. GAO interviewed the top 13 wireline providers and the four major wireless ISPs as well as held eight focus groups with consumers who subscribe to wireless and wireline broadband, according to his presentation. They spoke with 77 consumers total in Baltimore, Des Moines, Las Vegas and New York. “Consumers are left wondering if they're going to have to foot the bill,” concerns that are all the more relevant “in the midst of what is now a full-blown net neutrality debate,” Eshoo said. All consumers want a “fair price,” she added. An Eshoo aide told us last week Eshoo plans to submit these initial GAO findings to the FCC as part of its net neutrality proceeding.