AT&T system would restrict content access, charge fees to prevent 'bandwidth abuse'

AT&T Mobility has developed an application-aware system designed to restrict customers from engaging in "non-permissible" bandwidth-intensive activities such as file sharing or movie downloading. The company applied to patent the system, labeling its approach as "Prevention Of Bandwidth Abuse of a Communications System."

In its patent application, submitted during September 2013 and published by the US Patent & Trademark Office in January 2014, AT&T said the system is designed to prevent a user "from consuming an excessive amount of channel bandwidth by restricting use of the channel in accordance with the type of data being downloaded to the user." The carrier proposes issuing a customer an initial number of credits, which are used up as data is consumed. If the credits are close to running out and the customer's data use fits into the "permissible" category, "the user is provided another allotment of credits equal to the initial allotment," AT&T said. If, however, the data activity is deemed a "non-permissible" use under the customer's subscription terms, the carrier would issue the user an allotment of credits less than the initial allotment. "Each time the user comes close to using up the previous allotment of credits, the traffic is analyzed and if the traffic is non-permissible, the number of credits is reduced," said the patent application.