At issue are new, tiered 4G data plans from the nation’s fifth largest mobile carrier, which specializes in pay-as-you-go mobile phone service, which offer “unlimited Web usage” for all three tiers, which cost $40, $50 and $60 a month. But MetroPCS’s terms exclude video sites other than YouTube from “unlimited Web usage,” and block the use of internet telephony services such as Skype and Tango.

The terms of service also make it very unclear whether users would be allowed to use online radio services such as Pandora.

Those restrictions look to be in conflict with the recent net neutrality rules passed by the FCC on December 21, which prohibit mobile carriers from blocking websites or slowing competing voice services, though some exceptions exist for carriers attempting to manage network congestion.

But the interest groups say that MetroPCS’s vague terms of service let the carrier choose winners and losers on the net, when the carrier ought to be working like a utility, delivering the content that users choose to see.

The service plans announced by Metro PCS create distinctions between different uses of the Internet that lack any engineering merit. By permitting YouTube videos and web sites to be viewed without limit, while simultaneously disallowing or restricting the use of other voice and video web sites and services, MetroPCS’s actions harm competition, consumer choice, and innovation. Current third party voice and video service providers, including Skype and Netflix, face a competitive disadvantage to the voice and video services offered by MetroPCS, because would-be subscribers must pay an additional fee per month to use them.

MetroPCS did not immediately reply to a request for comment, nor did the company respond to a request for comment last week following its announcement of the new plans.

The FCC’s net neutrality rules are stricter on DSL and cable internet service providers than on mobile internet providers. The FCC’s rationale is that the mobile internet market is still evolving, bandwidth is scarcer for such companies and that there is more competition among mobile carriers — making it easier for customers to switch and punish companies for anti-consumer decisions.

But net neutrality advocates argue that the mobile internet is already too important to consumers and innovators for it to escape the rules requiring ISPs to allow citizens to use the apps, services and devices of their choice.

The FCC’s new rules are not in effect yet, as they have not been published formally in the Federal Register. But the interest groups say the FCC should start investigating MetroPCS now, so that when the rules go into effect, there’s not already a violation under way.

Photo via Majiscup

Authors: Ryan Singel

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