New AT&T Patent Could Charge Extra for Game Downloads & Online Play

GamersNexus: "Under AT&T's new patent, this type of file transaction could be against core Terms of Service and result in penalties or additional charges. Not a League player? Don't fear, other popular games also rely upon peer-to-peer networks for file transfers - like everything Blizzard makes: World of WarCraft, StarCraft II, and Diablo III (source).

Interestingly, the patent could be used to restrict video streaming from services like Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu, all of which compete with AT&T's own cable television package and on-demand services."

[whoyouwit04]

glad I don't have to deal about this garbage ass company any more.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

They are simply the first. If they start, they will all do the same. Greed destroys everything..

[Cupid_Viper_3]

@ GiantEnemyCrab..

So we should get rid of Microsoft/EA/Activision then? These guys sort of lead the pack when it comes to being greedy as far as gaming is concerned.

By the way, nice to see you back after what seems like such a long Hiatus. :)

[Snookies12]

Great... I have AT&T... Just great...

[Chapter11]

'Merica!

[_FantasmA_]

They already charge to access the internet. Then they see all that data going by their eyes and they feel like they could still make more money off people so they take advantage. Why can't we hold public meetings with companies to vote whether these changes should occur. And the stupid government who allows these things to happen because they look the other way when they get a big fat check instead of standing up for its people like a government should

[giovonni]

depends if the rest follow suit AT&T could shoot themselves in the foot and make customers go else where.

[RandomDude655]

Many people in the US can't switch providers at all...

[Dark_king]

Really im in the US in the country at that and I have the choice between 5 or 6 ISP's.

[sashimi]

some US providers even pay for your early termination fees when switching...can't remember which atm. Whether you have access to them is another story though.

[iceman06]

@Dark_king
You live in the country and have access to 5-6 ISP's. I live in a metropolitan area and have access to about 3-4 ISP's and one is severely limited in access (Google Fiber) and the other is sketchy as hell.

[Dark_king]

@iceman06 really that's it, that includes all high speed DSL,SAT,Cable and Fiber providers for your area.If so then sorry to hear that they have to compete for my money. I will switch to who ever offers me the best bang for my buck.

[webeblazing]

lol fiber optics and dsl is usually ran by the same company. sat usually give you a deal with the phone company dsl/ fiber. cable companies usually run sections of the state. sooooo huh? like he said a lot of people dont have choices when it come to IPs. i moved last year and the only IP is time warner and the over charge because it no other option, thats why the get away with raping their customers. you should look at the south park episode when they make fun of the fact that a lot of americans dont have a choice in the matter

[Prime157]

The way I see it is a foot in the door / snowball effect. AT&T will have such great rate of returns that investors won't mind the FEW customers who leave. The service will then be the first to really offer power, but be able to control the consumer.

Soon the competition will have to follow suite just to compete.

It's kind of the same reason PlayStation plus is mandatory now, as a bad example: to compete.

Back on topic, if most n4g readers took the 30 seconds to sign these petitions then they would have to hear us gamers as there are a lot of us that they are f###ing with.

https://petitions.whitehous...

http://act.freepress.net/si...

[Snookies12]

I doubt a petition is going to sway their minds. No matter how many people sign it.

[youndamie]

I'm sure T-Mobile will just keep the status quo lol. Anyway if at&t does it another provider will just try and steal their customers by advertising that they won't charge extra.

[Ripsta7th]

Bring on Google Fiber and we gamers will support! Bring on the tech revolution Google

[RandomDude655]

This is what the government should have invested in.

[iceman06]

Yep!!! I live in an city where it is available. However, it is still restricted by interest. So, at least in my area, our Fiberhood is not yet at the point where they are installing. I'm told it's about 3-6 months before it will be available. My wallet is ready!!! Actually, I will be saving $40+ a month for faster internet and more cable access plus a free tablet.

[princejb134]

Atnt, Verizon and Comcast are trying to charge for online play. Not to long ago their was a court case about this. I'm pretty sure if they succeed time warner cable will charge also.
If this happens goodbye gaming and netflix

[ArmrdChaos]

...and this is what a corrupt government will get you.

http://www.zdnet.com/net-ne...

[Software_Lover]

Good thing I'm not that into online multiplayer as much as I used to be. Bad thing that I download a lot of games on Steam and demos on Xbox live/psn.

The greed of these corporations know no end.

[DEEBO]

Man i have bright house and so far there isn't any data caps but i know its coming.

You can your kids about the good ol'days when the net didn't have all these crappy fee's.What am i saying some people are already paying fee's.

[sAVAge_bEaST]

Good thing AT&T, is one of the corporations I boycott.

[XtraTrstrL]

I have AT&T also. I hope this brings a rise to some new services to compete with these evil Dinosaurs.

[XiSasukeUchiha]

Greedy people need to stop!!

[alejandroelputo]

Things like this makes me feel that the world is coming to an end.

[mydyingparadiselost]

If you hate the idea of AT&T and other companies ( because there WILL be others that do this) call you Senator, file a complaint, do anything you can to support NET NEUTRALITY! The only reason this patent even exists is because of the recent change to the law and all of you should be pissed off about not only the change in the law but that this kind of bs is ALREADY starting to pop up amongst ISPs.
Fight for your rights before your right to fight is taken away.

[Software_Lover]

But they are on the payroll. They will pretend and play pretty with the press but they are all for it.

Most of our brave politicians and activists are dead. They went against the system. Now you have to have money to be in DC and they get there to get more money. Money buys elections and power.

[ALARM-clock]

RIP net neutrality... D-:

[GentlemenRUs]

America - Ruining it for the rest of the world.

[air1]

It clearly says AT&T...

[GentlemenRUs]

This could be the start of something which will wreck the INTERNET we know and love today.

Know what A stands for in AT&T?

America is where it always starts...

[air1]

lol what about the t&t! What do those stand for?!

I totally agree but it's still AT&T, they have a specific name with a very bold and very greedy proposal... You don't have to take America down to fight AT&T at the end of the day it's called capitalism and although I think it's great it has a very ugly side to it, greed...

Fortunately not everyone in America is like that and can handle that power of capitalism when they get such a powerful "want" at ppls finger tips...

Boycott AT&T not America or any other country with the kind of freedom America has... And if you don't think we have it good over here then go live in Iraq or Iran for 8 hrs..

[liquidhalos]

Oh really, why does every america speech have to have the freedom spiel worked into it somehow? Dont you guys get it, the world is growing weary of it all now. And as for the Iraq and Afghan part, they only have a war torn infrastructure, disease and rabid poverty like this because of murca's freedom (with us or against us) attitude. Your bombs did that.

Stop telling the world to change its attitude towards america and tell your politicians to change their attitude to the world. The heavens and earth DO NOT revolve around the states.

[tommygunzII]

America - Without us you would have to send that message via pigeon post.

[air1]

I have optimum as my internet provider however, I have AT&T as my cell phone provider and even though it wouldn't effect me I would drop them, write them a letter as to why and stamp it with verizon or any other many companies out there..

Ppl act as if they have us by the balls when it's really the other way around... But some ppl are so wild they couldn't go a few hrs with out a phone or Internet so never mind boycotting them for a month... I can guarantee if all subscribers dropped them for just one month, ceo's and investors would lose their shirts... And do a xb1 flip..

[Software_Lover]

I had AT&T for cellphone since they were bellsouth mobility. I switched about a year and a half ago to Republic wireless and have not looked back.

[kingmushroom]

This is just stupid, ill just switch to verizon or a provider that doesn't charge extra,

[peowpeow]

Lucky you have the luxury to

Though Verizon will probably race AT&T to it so I wouldn't go there either

[jdktech2010]

Who would have thought AT&T would make me want to go back to the cable company....I'll take Time Warner over this crap any day (until they get in on it and trust me evil is Time Warner's middle name)

I'm really getting sick of just being crapped on as a citizen of this country. I love this country but dang do we get our priorities wrong....by we, I mean congress and the government

[JoseV76]

man this is gonna sound bad but, why doesn't hackers F^&&*ck there programs up, look what they are doing to us, i wish i was a hacker and i would be at them all the time messing there shit up! I have att and if they start charging more im cutting them off they already over charge like TWC!!!

[liquidhalos]

Exactly, im kind of hoping that these big hacker groups go loco on their ass now. Lets see the hacking community pull of its biggest rapes

[KontryBoy706]

CABLE is the problem. That's what's going to cause all of this retardation that's going to happen. Internet is on the move to take over and the cable companies don't know what to do but this is the wrong way

[air1]

You lost me.... Cable is the problem?

[DeadMansHand]

Yes. People no longer watch cable or pay for ondemand. Netflix and hulu and torrent sites are stealing customers and a lot of them. This isn't just a gaming restricting they are trying to push through but it would block you (unless you pay a fee) from watching hulu netflix or gaming online.

[air1]

Ppl no longer watch tv or rent on demand anymore? Seriously? I have netflix but I couldn't imagine only having netflix and no cable..... It takes netflix way too long to get movies from theater to netflix. I can drop my cable provider if I had to boycott them with no problem but I am currently happy with optimum.

AT&T has such a small piece of the pie in my are that it's laughable for me to think they have any serious weight to pull off something like this and survive, not in my area anyway, i live in Connecticut that's the east coast in case you're wondering..

Everyone is making out to be as if AT&T the be all of cable, don't worry us city guys won't let AT&T take over . This tactic might work on you suburb guys but this shit will def. not fly in the major cities, so fight your fight with AT&T and don't look at it as if they are the world provider for cable.. So you won't be in the fight alone.

I'm going to do some research, see if I find some stats on the biggest providers for cable and there policies.. I see AT&T as a huge cell phone service but not as a cable provider I can be wrong though...

[KontryBoy706]

well air1 think about this. You said

"AT&T has such a small piece of the pie in my are that it's laughable for me to think they have any serious weight to pull off something like this and survive"

Don't forget it was AT&T who started the cell phone plans changing from unlimited data plans with daytime minutes TO limited data plans with unlimited minutes. Everyone said... well that's just AT&T Verizon wouldn't do that. The rest is history... AT&T kicked it off and most followed. In case if you are wondering... more and more people have signed up with AT&T with cable/internet/phone... they are becoming a big player

[KontryBoy706]

I hope this is stopped before it becomes the standard

[Scatpants]

AT&Ts internet service already sucks. I guess now they are going to be begging people to drop them. I'm sick of these companies with all of their anti-consumer policies.

[shuuwai]

meh. I had rogers.ca cable, they jack the price, I went to bell.ca dsl. two years later bell cap my download even thought I'm paying for a 24Mbps. So I jumped onto teksavvy, and loving my isp. -_-;; So in the end NA' companies are greedy sob. -_-;; thanks for reading.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

As I said before, this is a tipping point. Its gonna get real ugly very soon.

[denero1]

I see this as well but what can we do -_- i've signed petitions most politicians are corrupt

[kingdip90]

And people think a blue ray player less xbox one is a good idea why?

Online media is about to get very expensive... come back to single player games

[Outlaw1986]

If they do this I will get rid of AT&T so fast... Should I get dish network, direct tv, charter, or I believe a couple of cell phone company's like t-mobile and cricket also offer internet service?

[denero1]

Yes but the thing is one company does it then soon after the others follow they work hand and hand

I remember the 1 year contract for mobile phones it started with one mobile provider next thing ya know all of them got rid of 1 year contracts

[kingPoS]

It's happening! Corporate greed is why we can't nice things.

Want gigabits speeds when others countries have had them for years..... NOPE! (google fiber aside)

Want to watch live (IPTV) network TV straight from the internet without a cable box.... Not (yet) in America you won't.

Corperate greed is holding us back!!! I'd gladly sign up for Sony's IPTV venture just snub my nose at telco cabals in the US.

Gateway MT6706 2008

[Outlaw1986]

There's got to be internet company's out there though that don't provide cable that wouldn't care that we could get.

[jacksjus]

AT&T isn't the only option for most so no biggie just switch providers. If enough people do this they will revert back.

[jhoward585]

I had a strange feelin at&t would be the first ISP to do this to all of us.

AT&T are now AT$T

[static360]

go sign the petition for net neutrality people. Get the word out if you don't want shit like this happening

[denero1]

http://www.dslreports.com/s... <<<< fcc saw petiton said we'll act on it "shortly"