Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Communications United States Your Rights Online

T-Mobile Gives Customers Free Pokemon Go Data (theverge.com) 59

An anonymous reader shares a report from The Verge: T-Mobile has been a pioneer in giving special treatment to various apps and types of content used on its mobile network, and the carrier announced today that Pokemon Go will be joining its enclave of free data. Starting on July 19th, T-Mobile customers will have Pokemon Go data exempted from their high-speed data caps for a year. The company is also throwing in some other perks, like $15 in Lyft rides ("to get to a new pokestop or gym"), and a free Wendy's Frosty, making the slow death of net neutrality literally sweet.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

T-Mobile Gives Customers Free Pokemon Go Data

Comments Filter:
  • net neutrality (Score:5, Insightful)

    by locopuyo ( 1433631 ) on Thursday July 14, 2016 @04:42PM (#52513657) Homepage
    doesn't this violate net neutrality?
    • You're implying that they are offering preferential treatment at others expense... how could giving away your pet service for free to whomever will listen, or other incentives like free travel and ice cream to motivate people to play possibly be deemed preferential?
    • by Anonymous Coward

      doesn't this violate net neutrality?

      Yes, clearly it is an act of war. Therefore the invasion begins as soon as our download is complete.

    • Re: net neutrality (Score:2, Informative)

      by SmaryJerry ( 2759091 )
      As long as they aren't accepting a payment from Nintendo or anyone else for offering Pokemon go data free, they are not violating net neutrality.
      • by gfxguy ( 98788 )
        That's how it should work - and that's why I don't think they are violating NN with either this or binge-on, but I also think the law goes to far - otherwise this wouldn't even be a question. I support the intent of NN, which, to me, means service providers can't charge content providers for use of their networks (because the customers of the service providers are already paying for the bandwidth), and they can't throttle bandwidth or extort money from content providers to use that bandwidth. But a compan
    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by gfxguy ( 98788 )
      Yes, it's blatantly anti-consumer. Somehow. It must be, because net neutrality.
  • by chispito ( 1870390 ) on Thursday July 14, 2016 @04:50PM (#52513763)
    If you're playing PG you're not watching videos and probably not streaming music. From a Data:BatteryLife standpoint, you're coming out way ahead.
    • From a Data:BatteryLife standpoint, you're coming out way ahead.

      I found him! I found the one guy not playing Pokemon GO!!!

      Pokemon GO chews through batteries like a Sega Game Gear.

      • I found him! I found the one guy not playing Pokemon GO!!!

        Pokemon GO chews through batteries like a Sega Game Gear.

        I was actually trying to make such an observation: That for the same battery life, Pokemon will use much less data than the usual time-wasting suspects.

        Evidently, I failed.

        • Why would anyone care about data per battery when the battery usage dictates the amount of time you can play (or use your phone for anything else)?

          I thought the : was just some shitty typo, especially since you said "you're coming out way ahead".

      • If you're running a phone's GPS then *that* in particular will chew through batteries like nobody's business. I had a Galaxy Note 4 completely drain a 10,000MaH battery-based phone charger running GPS for about 7 hours (was watching my progress in a navigation app during a bus trip) At my destination, the phone was at almost full charge, the charger it was hooked to was almost completely flatlined.

        ---PCJ
    • by Calydor ( 739835 )

      How much data does Pokemon Go use in an average day, anyway? Is it enough that this will matter, or is T-Mobile just promoting themselves with a feel-good measure?

  • by mentil ( 1748130 ) on Thursday July 14, 2016 @05:17PM (#52514073)

    This story is basically free advertising for T-Mobile. Pokemon GO is super popular at the moment, but it doesn't use much data. It uses up 2-8MB/hour [pokemongodb.net], and the average player only plays it 43 minutes a day [usatoday.com], meaning 1.5-6MB per day usage for an average player. That's ~120MB/month for the average player, not exactly pushing the limits of most people's data caps.

    Adding in that it's probably the most popular mobile game at the moment anyhow, there shouldn't be a net neutrality problem; people who don't enjoy the game won't feel pressured to play it over other games merely due to the zero-rated data. If, say, one VPN were zero-rated while its competitors were not, there could be a serious problem; I could even see zero-rating being a problem with MMOs or livestreaming services where different services are essentially commodities. However, in this case the data usage of a game with effectively no competition in its genre isn't a significant contributor to people's choice to play it over other games.

    • The problem, if anything, lies in the general precedent of establishing the carrier having control of how much data you can use, and how/where you can use it. T-Mobile hasn't been bad about it from what I've seen, but that doesn't mean they'll stay that way (right now they're the last place upstart among the major carriers). Furthermore, Verizon and AT&T are likely going to be more than happy to put the screws to their customers using this sort of thing to wring out whatever extra money they can.
      • right now they're the last place upstart among the major carriers

        Actually, they passed up Sprint a couple weeks ago.

        Oh, wait, Sprint's not a major carrier anymore. Carry on.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 14, 2016 @05:18PM (#52514075)

    Much like when people scream the 2nd Amendment when a private company declines to allow you to say your piece whenever you want, people will scream Net Neutrality at this.

    This was not an agreement between Tmobile and Nintendo (or peering systems) to prioritize data.
    This was not Tmobile accelerating or throttling data.
    This was not Tmobile affecting the transfer of data at all.

    This was Tmobile making a business decision to exempt this data from charges to you. They are totally allowed to do this, and its actually a great promotional move.

    Put down the pitchforks and pick up the pokeballs, you gotta catch 'em all...

    • Freedom of speech is the 1st amendment, not the 2nd.
    • Much like when people scream the 2nd Amendment when a private company declines to allow you to say your piece whenever you want

      No, "THE SECOND AMENDMENT!" is what I scream before I start shooting. ;)

    • This was not an agreement between Tmobile and Nintendo (or peering systems) to prioritize data.
      This was not Tmobile accelerating or throttling data.
      This was not Tmobile affecting the transfer of data at all.

      They will give you access to certain destinations that they decided but if you want to go anywhere else, they restrict your connection to 0 bps... unless you give them more money. That is unfair competition for my app which uses huge amounts of data too and therefore a violation of network neutrality.

  • by Zargg ( 1596625 ) on Thursday July 14, 2016 @08:11PM (#52515121)

    Someone has a bone to pick with T-Mobile...the free Lyft ride and Wendy's frosty have absolutely nothing to do with Net Neutrality or adding Pokemon Go data to binge on. They are weekly gifts through their T-Mobile Tuesday giveaways which they've had for I don't even know how long, but long before now.

    • by sh00z ( 206503 )

      Someone has a bone to pick with T-Mobile...the free Lyft ride and Wendy's frosty have absolutely nothing to do with Net Neutrality or adding Pokemon Go data to binge on. They are weekly gifts through their T-Mobile Tuesday giveaways which they've had for I don't even know how long, but long before now.

      For about a month. There's also a free Vudu rental every week. They already terminated the free medium pizza at Domino's (after two weeks), because too many customers were actually redeeming the offer.

  • So, checking out the sidebar news on FB. Darwin must be laughing his ass off. A game in which evolution is a core mechanic is causing semi-natural selection among humans. Walking off cliffs, falling in lakes, getting hit by cars, stabbed in parks...

    And that's just Southern California!

After all is said and done, a hell of a lot more is said than done.

Working...