Giving “free data pass” to limited set of apps is even more harmful IMO, the monopolies can afford pay the network infrastructure but small app developers will not be able to.
But those lanes should:
- Be general categories of use
- Only be created by regulation
- Be freely accessible to any app
- Not involve any app-ISP paymentThey should simply qualify for it on the basis of their use case.
E.g. "video streaming" or "real-time telecom"
The internet infrastructure was built with certain utilization and speed in mind. Instead of owning up to the fact that it’s not as good as it used to be, these companies are selling quality of service products. Otherwise it’s too much of a publicity hit if they admit it.
"Unlimited" plans have always irked the hell out of me, because they rarely are.
I think capped totals (ideally without overage charges and with slow-lane bandwidth until reset) are perfectly fine.
But I'm 100% against named exclusions that don't count against a cap -- that's unfairly preferring an existing incumbent, and doesn't benefit the consumer in the larger/competition sense.
That's a complete different game than that between end-customers, ISPs and service providers.