As more and more people purchase and use smartphones, the amount of data they access on those devices continues to increase. Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile all have some kind of wireless caps on their networks that either slow down a person"s data when it reaches a certain level or makes the user pay extra after the data downloads reaches a certain level. Sprint, at least so far, does not impose any kind of wireless data cap for its smartphone customers.
The Mozilla Foundation, the same group behind the development of the Firefox web browser, has decided to help launch a new web site called WhatIsMyCap.org. It is designed to help consumers figure out the amount of data they would use if they downloaded things like HD movies, TV shows or albums via their smartphone from each of the four major US wireless carriers. It shows how quickly a consumer can reach some of the caps that have been put in place by Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile.
The clear theme behind WhatIsMyCap.org is that its organizers don"t care much for wireless caps by certain companies. The site states:
Although many carriers tout the ability to stream video and interact with the cloud on their networks, strict data caps make actually doing those things expensive or impossible. Carriers defend data caps as necessary to reduce network congestion, but monthly data caps are ineffective ways to deal with networked congestion that occurs moment to moment.
The groups behind the site, which also include Public Knowledge and the Open Source Democracy Foundation, are urging its visitors to ask the Federal Communications Commission to investigate what the site calls "this anti-consumer practice" of wireless data caps.