FCC orders Verizon to stop blocking tethering apps, reaches $1.25 million settlement
The FCC has ruled that Verizon can longer tell customers how to use the data they rightfully pay for, and if that should include sharing of bandwidth via third-party tethering app, so be it. Verizon initially came under scrutiny after the company began blocking access to apps in the Android Market/Google Play Store that allow a smartphone user to share their data connection with a PC, a move that most saw as a blatant attempt to force customers to pony up an additional $20 per month for an officially supported version of the same feature.
The FCC’s reasons for ruling against Verizon have more to do with an LTE spectrum auction than with them telling Verizon how to run their business. As part of the deal that went along with this so-called C block spectrum, a highly desirable area of bandwidth, the FCC ordered that the owner of the spectrum could not limit the abilities of devices or users plugging into it. The FCC saw Verizon’s app blocking as a violation of this, and has ordered that Verizon cease limiting customer access to tethering apps. Verizon was also ordered to pay a $1.25 million settlement.
The bottom line: you can now download whatever third-party tethering apps you so choose on your LTE-enabled Verizon handset. As part of recent pricing changes, users on tiered data plans won’t have to pay an extra fee to use such services. The FCC, however, has not limited Verizon’s right to charge customers on unlimited data plans additional fees for tethering.
[via ArsTechnica]