At&t decides to go public about their hatred for P2P file networks. At&t has made it very clear that they will terminate a contract for the use of such applications on their network. Their Mobile broadband network is designed for very short "bursts" of speed not intensive broadband applications. This would result in extreme degradation of service from their cell sites for both data and voice traffic. A letter filed with the FCC indicates that At&t admits they have not used any type of broadband control measure to prevent this. You may read the filing here.
The point found on Techdirt is completely valid. What does At&t do when a developer releases a p2p program for their baby the iPhone. Do they ban iPhone users. I certainly see that turning into a very expensive class-action lawsuit, and lots of refunds for the phones that will not be able to be used anywhere else. At&t claims that other carriers have just as stringent rules in their terms and conditions, however no other carrier to my knowledge has come right out and issued a warning like this. At&t needs to be careful if they ever plan on regaining their top subscriber numbers from Verizon. The fact that they would even issue a statement like this boggles my mind. At&t has to know that this statement would make subscribers run for the hills just based on principal regardless of how they intend on using their Internet connection.
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