Nick Statt

Verizon is asking the Federal Communications Commission to let it keep new smartphones locked to its network for 60 days, as part of an initiative to prevent identity theft and fraud. After the 60-day period, the phones would unlock automatically.

Facebook has announced changes to how it handles and communicates violations of its policies around the publishing of fake news and misinformation, with the goal of preventing publishers that operate large networks of pages and groups from skirting bans. Starting Jan 23, Facebook says it will reserve the right to take down pages and groups that are simply affiliated with those that have violated the company’s community standards, even if those pages or groups haven’t technically broken any rules.

 AT&T now owns an internet service provider, a cellular service provider, a satellite cable TV provider, and Time Warner media properties including CNN and HBO. With AppNexus, AT&T controls a programmatic advertising network it can use to plaster ads on the web, within mobile apps, and on television. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson put it plainly: “AT&T has an amazing amount of data,” but he added that his company didn’t have a “very targeted advertising approach.” Tapping into customer insight from media properties in combination with its telecom business could be the key.

Verizon is taking a page out of AT&T’s book by zero rating its Fios cable TV service for all Verizon Wireless customers. That means that if you purchase your mobile data plan from Verizon Wireless and your cable TV plan from Fios, you can now use the Fios Mobile app to stream live channels and on-demand shows and not have it count against your monthly data cap. (Verizon Wireless and Fios are separate subsidiaries, but both are owned by Verizon Communications.) This builds on Verizon’s previous decision to zero rate its Go90 mobile app for customers of its own wireless service, which network neutrality advocates see as prioritizing its own products to the detriment of those from competitors and upstarts. (One notable exception is for customers with unlimited mobile data plans. Streaming Fios Mobile content will in fact count toward the unlimited plans’ 22GB a month limit, after which Verizon will throttle speeds. This caveat is not made clear in Verizon’s marketing language, and instead is found only in the App Store release notes.) With new FCC chairman Ajit Pai calling net neutrality a “mistake” and vowing to roll back regulations on telecoms and internet service providers, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile may be given even more freedom to do as they please with traffic on their networks.

AT&T announced a new feature for its data plans called Stream Saver that will effectively throttle mobile video streams starting sometime in 2017. Touted as a “free and convenient, data-saving feature,” AT&T will cap what it says are most video streams to 480p by default. To watch video in high definition, consumers will have to opt-out using the myAT&T app or on the company’s website. AT&T says there is no charge to use the feature.

It sounds innocuous right now, and in most cases having a data-saving tool you can toggle on and off at will is a good thing. (AT&T killed overage fees in August, so it no longer has a vested interest in letting customers exceed their limit.) Yet Stream Saver could pave the way for AT&T to start enabling the potentially net neutrality-violating exemption features championed by T-Mobile and its Music Freedom and Binge On initiatives.

Verizon has a new unlimited mobile data offering with some significant strings attached. PopData is essentially a pay-as-you-go unlimited option that costs $2 for every 30 minutes or $3 for every 60 minutes. Think of it like a microtransaction or in-app purchase in a mobile game, where you can’t enjoy the full benefits of a product you ostensibly already own or pay for without ponying up a few extra bucks. Of course, PopData isn’t quite as insidious as it sounds upfront.

There does appear to be some legitimate reasons to want unfettered data access for a short amount of time. For instance, perhaps you know you’ll be downloading large files to your phone like numerous Spotify playlists, or maybe you want to enjoy an uninterrupted stream of a sports game or Netflix movie without having to worry about your data cap. But there’s no telling really whether this is a good or bad deal, as it complicates how we think of the value of data by blending a monthly bucket metaphor with that of a time-based subscription system. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if customers could simply pay for unlimited data every month. Yet Verizon — unlike AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint — does not offer customers a standard unlimited plan, and the company has made an effort to kick users off their grandfathered plans in the past.

Comcast's home internet data caps are going live for a majority of customers starting November 1st.

Called the "Xfinity Terabyte Internet Data Usage Plan," the cap restricts the amount of data you consume in your home to 1TB per month regardless of the speed of your plan. Comcast claims 99 percent of customers use less than 1TB per month, but it does now offer an unlimited option for $50 more per month. Comcast says it will never throttle customers who go over the cap, but it will automatically add 50GB to your plan at a cost of $10. The company will continue to charge you $10 in 50GB intervals up to $200 a month. To notify customers, the company will use in-browser, email, and text notifications starting at the 50 percent point, and a usage meter is available on your online account. Comcast says customers will get two grace months every year, meaning you won't be charged unless you exceed the cap a third time in any given 12-month period.