AT&T Files Patent App to Detect and Charge More for Bandwidth-Intensive Traffic

AT&T Mobility recently filed a patent application ( US 20140010082 ) for a system that would enable the company to automatically charge subscribers more money for using file sharing, video and other bandwidth-intensive services.

The patent is entitled “Prevention of Bandwidth Abuse of a Communications System” and, just as the title suggests, its stated mission is to prevent a subscriber from “abusing a telecommunications system” by consuming more than his or her fair share of bandwidth.

The system would allot each user with a set amount of credits, and subscribers would dip into their credit total when they use select services or download certain types of content. The data being downloaded is then checked to determine if it is permissible or non-permissible based upon the user’s total available credits. AT&T explained that if the credit total is not sufficient, “[v]arious restriction policies also can be applied, such as levying additional fees and/or terminating the user’s access to the channel.”

The patent application was filed back in September 2013 but only made public in January 2014. To be fair, technology companies, AT&T included, file a lot of patent applications, and some are not granted while others are never put into practice. However, coming on the heels of AT&T’s sponsored data plan, and the Net Neutrality decision a few weeks ago, this will surely raise interest in the industry and concern from subscribers.

http://www.ntca.org/new-edge/data/att-files-p...ve-traffic