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AT&T Exempts HBO Max From Data Caps but Still Limits Your Netflix Use

posted by martyb on Saturday June 06 2020, @06:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the to-fee-or-not-to-fee dept.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

AT&T exempts HBO Max from data caps but still limits your Netflix use;:

AT&T's new HBO Max streaming service is exempt from the carrier's mobile data caps, even though competing services such as Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+ count against the monthly data limits. This news was reported today in an article by The Verge, which said that AT&T "confirmed to The Verge that HBO Max will be excused from the company's traditional data caps and the soft data caps on unlimited plans."

The traditional data caps limit customers to a certain amount of data each month before they have to pay overage fees or face extreme slowdowns for the rest of the month. "Soft data caps on unlimited plans" apparently is a reference to the 22GB or 50GB thresholds, after which unlimited-data users may be prioritized below other users when connecting to a congested cell tower.

"According to an AT&T executive familiar with the matter, HBO Max is using AT&T's 'sponsored data' system, which technically allows any company to pay to excuse its services from data caps," The Verge wrote. "But since AT&T owns HBO Max, it's just paying itself: the data fee shows up on the HBO Max books as an expense and on the AT&T Mobility books as revenue. For AT&T as a whole, it zeroes out. Compare that to a competitor like Netflix, which could theoretically pay AT&T for sponsored data, but it would be a pure cost."

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2020, @08:42PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2020, @08:42PM (#1004317)

    Yes, the stupid prize. Lori Lightfoot is pleading with companies not to leave Chicago while refusing to enforce the rule of law and condemning vigilantes. Companies will be shuttering because it will not be possible to get insurance and that's what the looters and idiot politicians have won for themselves.

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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2020, @09:05PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2020, @09:05PM (#1004325)

    Neighborhood stores are open and doing business just fine. Small franchise stores are open and doing business just fine. Ethnic supermarkets are busier than ever, fully stocked, and untouched by looters.

    Chicagoan here. We don't need your corporate chain stores and we don't need your billionaire owners. Whole Foods can get the fuck out of Chicago and stay the fuck out of Chicago.

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Saturday June 06 2020, @11:04PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 06 2020, @11:04PM (#1004357) Journal

      Neighborhood stores are open and doing business just fine.

      Except, of course, where they aren't.

      A third day of chaos and looting decimated small businesses in and around Chicago Sunday.

      Jamaal Burris was inside his fitness center in the Grand Boulevard Plaza at 55th Street and the Dan Ryan when the looting began. While there are some big-name stores in the plaza, most of them are small businesses.

      Six GoFundMe sites for rebuilding local businesses were listed - five were associated with particular businesses.