[ale] at&t mobile restriction

[Paul Cartwright]

yesterday at lunch time, I tried to use my mobile web from my Verizon phone. 
It just spun... didn't go anywhere. So I assume there wasn't enough bandwidth 
for Verizon..
then I saw this, this morning:
AT&T Bans Video Streaming, Tethering, Fun From Its Mobile Data Network 
(Wireless)
 by Carlo Longino from the no-soup-for-you dept on Friday, April 3rd, 2009 @ 
4:11PM
AT&T has modified the terms of service for its mobile data network, 
banning "downloading movies using P2P file sharing services, customer 
initiated redirection of television or other video or audio signals via any 
technology from a fixed location to a mobile device, web broadcasting, and... 
any applications that tether the device... to Personal Computers or other 
equipment." So in addition to banning illegal movie downloads, AT&T's banned 
things like SlingPlayer that consumers can use to legally view content, 
services like Qik that let them show live video on the web from their phones. 
Why would it do such a thing? Well, either it's looking to protect its 
commercial interests by banning services for which it hopes to charge its 
customers, or its network isn't up to snuff and can't support all the things 
its customers would like to do with it. This sort of stuff, sadly, is par for 
the course for the mobile industry, home of the "unlimited" plan that's 
actually got lots of limits. In the end, the only ones who end up getting 
hurt by these things are the operators themselves. By seeking to limit what 
their customers can do with their phones, they're limiting how valuable they 
are to their users -- which means at some point, they won't be willing to pay 
as much for them.
-- 
Paul Cartwright
Registered Linux user # 367800
Registered Ubuntu User #12459