AT&T responds to FaceTime concerns

UPDATE: 2:40 p.m Wednesday.

On Wednesday, AT&T defended its plan to limit iPhone's FaceTime, a popular video chat service.

A consumer advocate, citing federal regulations, had said the giant cellular provider would be treading on thin ice with its plan to make customers pay more for the feature available on Apple products and used by millions of its customers.

On a company blog on Wednesday, Bob Quinn of AT&T said the company isn't violating the FCC's net neutrality rules because the carrier does not have a similar preloaded video chat app that competes with FaceTime or other chat apps. "Nonetheless, in another knee jerk reaction, some groups have rushed to judgment and claimed that AT&T's plans will violate the FCC's net neutrality rules. Those arguments are wrong," he wrote. To comply with net neutrality rules, mobile broadband Internet providers must be transparent in disclosing information about the network management practices, performance and commercial terms. They also aren't allowed to block applications that compete with their own voice or video telephony services.

AT&T's plan for FaceTime, Quinn says, does not violate either requirement. "The FCC's net neutrality rules do not regulate the availability to customers of applications that are preloaded on phones," he says. "Indeed, the rules do not require that providers make available any preloaded apps." Quinn reiterated that AT&T is limiting FaceTime for its data share customers because "of an overriding concern for the impact this expansion may have on our network and the overall customer experience."

Our original post:

There could be a battle brewing over AT&T's plan to limit iPhone's FaceTime, a popular video chat service.

A consumer advocate, citing federal regulations, says the giant cellular provider is treading on thin ice with its plan to make customers pay more for the feature available on Apple products and used by millions of its customers.

The Federal Communications Commission's rules on "network neutrality" say that Internet providers may not block content, applications or sites that compete with their services.

"Although carriers are permitted to engage in 'reasonable network management,' there is no technical reason why one data plan should be able to access FaceTime, and another not," says John Bergmayer, senior staff attorney at Public Knowledge, in a statement.

But AT&T is preparing for a change in the FaceTime app. Until later this year, only iPhone users on Wi-Fi can use the embedded app, which allows owners of Apple products, such as iPhones, iPads or Mac computers to connect via the device's phone camera.

When Apple launches a new version of its iOS operating system later this year, FaceTime will be usable over any cellular data network. The video-reliant feature could lead to heavier network traffic and potentially hurt carriers' revenue.

AT&T "should respond by competing with these services and not by engaging in discriminatory behavior," says Bergmayer.

The "data-sharing plans," to be rolled out this week, require customers to choose a bucket of data allotment to be shared among various devices at home. Last week, AT&T said it will require subscribers to sign up for the data-sharing plans if they want to use FaceTime over its network.