More and more of us are accessing the Internet on our mobile phones, and by 2014 more of us will access the web with mobile devices than with desktops or laptops.
We have to work hard to protect the mobile Internet from service providers who want to block third-party content and prioritize their own, all the while increasing prices for consumers.
So it's scary that MetroPCS — the fifth-largest wireless carrier in the U.S., mostly concentrated in big cities — has just launched an egregious attack on Net Neutrality. Its new pricing plans would limit users' ability to access certain websites and services unless they pay for the privilege.
Here's what MetroPCS’s new pricing scheme looks like:
- Customers purchasing the most expensive plan will have to pay extra to access Netflix, Skype or any website using “advanced HTML” on their phones.
- Those with the cheapest data option won't be able to access any of these online services, except for YouTube -- despite its similar data usage.
It gets worse. MetroPCS’s plans disproportionately affect people of color and urban communities, whom the company recognizes as a major portion of its customer base, and who largely depend on mobile phones to access the Internet.
There is a way that we can stop MetroPCS's discriminatory practices. Last month, the FCC adopted weak rules that leave mobile Internet users virtually unprotected from these types of abuses, with two big exceptions: They prohibit the blocking of websites and competing video and voice communication applications on mobile phones. Yet that’s exactly what MetroPCS is doing.
The FCC must now take action to protect the public and enforce these new rules. If the agency does nothing, we could see a domino effect in which larger carriers like AT&T and Verizon introduce their own forms of mobile blocking and discrimination. We can’t let that happen.
Free Press just alerted the FCC to MetroPCS's actions (read the letter here).
Mobile Internet users should have the freedom to access any sites or services they want. Click here to tell The FCC to respond to the public's concerns, protect our online rights and investigate MetroPCS now.