'It's digital colonialism': how Facebook's free internet service has failed its users: Guardian

'It's digital colonialism': how Facebook's free internet service has failed its users | Technology | The Guardian: "“The narrative Facebook is concerned with is about increasing access, but there’s a lack of empirical evidence. But that’s the whole point of the project!”

 Facebook refused to answer questions about how many people it had brought online for the first time, how it places content within the apps or how the company measures the success of the scheme. However, the company pointed out the report only looked at a few markets and that it is an open platform for which any content provider can adapt their services." 'via Blog this'

¿Quién debe responder por la neutralidad de la red? • ENTER.CO

¿Quién debe responder por la neutralidad de la red? • ENTER.CO: "¡En Colombia la gente paga por enviarse mensajes! ¿Acaso nos encontramos en 1920 como la industria del telegrama? Las empresas de telecomunicaciones crean “bizarre price plans (planes de precios extravagantes)”, en su afán por generar negocio a partir de internet. E internet no funciona así. Necesitan competir y conseguir planes para financiarse (creo que sería bueno que nos preguntáramos más seguido de dónde sale el dinero).

 Al final, el usuario debería poder elegir, pero ante opciones más transparentes. En el Reino Unido las personas ya ni siquiera contratan un plan de telefonía fijo, es raro. Pero he visto que en Colombia las empresas de telecomunicaciones te ofrecen en sus planes cosas como ‘adquiere este plan con teléfono fijo, internet…’ ¿Teléfono fijo? ¿Por qué teléfono fijo? Es raro." 'via Blog this'

Con la neutralidad de la red se juega el futuro de internet

Con la neutralidad de la red se juega el futuro de internet: "La explosión del uso de datos móviles implica que todo baja de precio, la tecnología, el almacenamiento, y todos deberíamos esperar tener condiciones como las de Finlandia en unos tres años. El problema de que los reguladores permitan el “zero rating” sin mayor escrutinio es que puede volverse una condición normal del mercado, cuando deberían obligar a las compañías a ofrecer acceso a datos más barato cada año.

 La normalización de esta práctica también viene por cuenta de algo que he llamado zero washing y funciona de la misma forma en que las compañías de petróleo se pintan como amigables con el medio ambiente: uno ve fotos de niños sonriendo en campos verdes al lado del logo de una petrolera, por ejemplo." 'via Blog this'

SNL: Former BT CTO: 5G not 'as transformative as people like to think'

SNL: Q&A: Former BT CTO: 5G not 'as transformative as people like to think': "The reality is, I don't think 5G is quite as transformative as people like to think. For operators to make a success of 5G, they will need 10 times more towers than they've already got — and this will be a stretch.

Less than 5% of all internet and digital connection is through 3G and 4G. Meanwhile, approximately 55% of all digital connections on mobile devices use Wi-Fi and the rest are on fixed line.

Will 5G change that? I think it is very unlikely.

Will 5G be a big player in the internet of things? Again, very unlikely. It is interesting that all of the mobile companies will offer me Wi-Fi access to their networks in order to encourage me not to use their 4G because they do not have the capacity. So there are a number of impediments." 'via Blog this'

Verizon admits to throttling video in apparent violation of net neutrality - The Verge

Verizon admits to throttling video in apparent violation of net neutrality - The Verge: "Yesterday, we reported that Verizon Wireless appeared to be throttling Netflix traffic, — and today, the company seems to have come clean. In a statement provided to Ars Technica and The Verge, Verizon implicitly admitted to capping the traffic, blaming the issue on a temporary video optimization test.

 “We've been doing network testing over the past few days to optimize the performance of video applications on our network," a Verizon Wireless spokesperson said. “The testing should be completed shortly. The customer video experience was not affected.”" 'via Blog this'

UK mobile carrier copies T-Mobile's Binge On scheme, nearly down to the name - The Verge

UK mobile carrier copies T-Mobile's Binge On scheme, nearly down to the name - The Verge: "A spokesperson from Three responded to The Verge about whether the new policy violates EU net neutrality and its competitiveness guideline:

 “No, we are compliant with regulation. Neither the EU net neutrality regulations nor the Berec guidelines prohibit the zero rating of services. Go Binge does not block content and it does not prioritise or restrict traffic. We are promoting customer choice: customers can opt out of the service if they choose to do so. We are not compelling consumers to participate and we are not charging them anything if they do so. This is an innovative product which adds to a number of zero-rated agreements in place across the industry.”

Virgin Mobile launched a similar program last year in which it zero-rates Facebook apps, like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger." 'via Blog this'