T-Mobile Takes On Data 'Thiefs,' Raising Questions About FCC's Net Neutrality Rules
T-Mobile is clamping down on a small group of its customers who it alleges are “going out of their way with all kinds of workarounds” to use much more than their share of tethered data, CEO John Legere said in an open letter to subscribers posted Sunday, saying the carrier would contact the customers Monday. Industry observers said the latest development potentially raises some interesting questions about the FCC’s February net neutrality rules and how the agency will interpret them. The order includes a “bright line” rule against throttling (see 1502260043).
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Some subscribers are “downloading apps that hide their tether usage, rooting their phones, writing code to mask their activity,” Legere said. “They are ‘hacking’ the system to swipe high speed tethered data. These aren't naive amateurs; they are clever hackers who are willfully stealing for their own selfish gain.” Legere said some have used as much as 2,000 GB of data per month. “I’m not sure what they are doing with it -- stealing wireless access for their entire business, powering a small cloud service, providing broadband to a small city, mining for bitcoin -- but I really don’t care!” he said. T-Mobile allows customers with unlimited data plans to tether, that is use their mobile phones as Wi-Fi hot spots, without an additional charge.
Legere conceded some may question whether T-Mobile is violating the new neutrality rules. “Make no mistake about it -- this is not the same issue,” he said. “Don’t be duped by their sideshow. We are going after every thief, and I am starting with the 3,000 users who know exactly what they are doing.”
In comments on Periscope over the weekend, Legere called the subscribers "loud mouths" who will try to "hide" behind net neutrality rules. Many T-Mobile customers are using 10 or 20 GB of data every month. "This is not what I am talking about," he said. "I'm sick of it on your behalf."
Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld said T-Mobile may not be violating the order. “I don't think this raises net neutrality concerns if customers are actively disguising their activity,” he said. “This is extreme conduct that actually threatens the network.” Free Press didn't comment.
But Recon Analytics analyst Roger Entner said under the net neutrality rules it really doesn’t seem to matter how customers use data. “It would be a significant development if the FCC would side with T-Mobile in this case,” he said. “T-Mobile's problems highlight how net neutrality theory conflicts with business reality. While the behavior of these few T-Mobile customers breaks T-Mobile's business model, it's the risk a carrier takes by continuing to offer an unlimited plan in our days -- some people may actually take them up on it and the FCC will probably enforce it.”
“Now that T-Mo is the nation’s number three carrier, they’re acting more like a big guy than the scrappy upstart they used to be,” said Richard Bennett, fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “T-Mo is still one of the anointed good guys, so I expect the big net neutrality lobbyists … will give them a pass. While T-Mo’s actions undermine the notion that ‘unlimited means unlimited,’ because they’re couched in terms of going after tethering bypasses and other abuses, they’re probably in the clear with the FCC too.”
"The uncertainty created by the FCC's new net neutrality regime raises all sorts of questions as we are now in the 'mother-may-I' era of Internet network management,” said Robert McDowell, former FCC commissioner, now at Wiley Rein. “If the facts are true as alleged, uncompensated use of subscription services is per se misappropriation and a carrier should be able to pursue legal recourse. But in this strange new world that is 'through the looking glass' where everything that was known is now turned on its head, it is anybody's guess how the FCC will view such situations. These types of questions will keep coming for years."
Berin Szoka, president of Tech Freedom, said he would have to look more closely at all the supporting documents before offering an opinion. His immediate takeaway was “don’t $#%^ with Legere,” he said. “He's the Christopher Walken of tech policy: he'll slash your throat while grinning from ear to ear.”