Vodafone offers its customers unlimited data for WhatsApp

Vodafone introduced its new tariff package 10 days ago. And in it there was a novelty that until now had never been seen in Spain in a great operator (FreedomPop already offers it for months), Chat Zero . This is the trade name of an option that allows your customers to use messaging applications at zero cost. Yes, all are usually free, but they consume data, something for which you always have to pay.

But from April 28, 2017 (when the promotion is activated), WhatsApp, Telegram or Line will not consume a single mega when using some of these applications. Not even when they call, when they send pictures or videos or of course, when they chat. And according to Vodafone, the list of free pricing apps will grow in the future to cover any messaging (except Facebook Messenger, by decision of Vodafone).



Vodafone offers its customers unlimited data for WhatsApp, thus skipping net neutrality

Yahoo Finance Néstor Parrondo | Technology and networksYahoo FinanceMarch 13, 2017

Vodafone introduced its new tariff package 10 days ago. And in it there was a novelty that until now had never been seen in Spain in a great operator (FreedomPop already offers it for months), Chat Zero . This is the trade name of an option that allows your customers to use messaging applications at zero cost. Yes, all are usually free, but they consume data, something for which you always have to pay.

But from April 28, 2017 (when the promotion is activated), WhatsApp, Telegram or Line will not consume a single mega when using some of these applications. Not even when they call, when they send pictures or videos or of course, when they chat. And according to Vodafone, the list of free pricing apps will grow in the future to cover any messaging (except Facebook Messenger, by decision of Vodafone).

This option is especially attractive in Telegram, since this platform allows the sending of heavy messages - up to 1,5 Gb - which would send an entire movie from one user to another through a 4G network without any type of cost. And who says one, says 1,000, because in theory there is no limit. According to the small print of Vodafone , the only thing that does not enter this offer are VoIP calls, nor video calls.

But what looks like great news is actually a bad news for net neutrality and for free competition. Favoring this type of application penalizes directly to its rivals. Without going any further, Facebook Messenger will be harmed because Telegram will not generate any type of expense and yet its users will see how they spend megas and megas sending messages that could be saved if they use the competition.

This is a direct blow to net neutrality, a principle according to which every provider or government should treat equally the traffic of data that travels through the Internet. Vodafone in this case would be favoring messaging apps by allowing them to consume at zero cost, compared to other services.

There is no doubt that the offer is very attractive to users at this time. But, what if they do not want to use this type of messaging applications? And if in the future Vodafone decides to only support HBO with a similar measure and leave behind Netflix? Not to mention a bomb-type stop counting data for iPhone users and not for those of Android . Such decisions would undermine the freedom of decision of consumers and compromise companies that provide services or content, which would be forced to sign such agreements with operators to survive.

What would happen, for example, if an airport decided to give its best schedules and not charge fees to certain airlines? At first, the passengers would only want to fly with that benefited airline. Little by little, the other companies would stop flying to that destination because they could not compete with the favorite, who could then put the prices he wanted and only offer the destinations that best fit him, thus making travelers - and the inhabitants of that City - in their hostages: they would have to pay what the company wanted to be able to fly, since they would not have another option.

As the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions : those of Vodafone with Chat Zero may be the best, but they feel a dangerous precedent that can end up affecting very negatively the ecosystem of the Net, and therefore the consumers.