Yesterday it was announced that Verizon will begin testing out its sponsored data program in the coming days. If the idea of sponsored data sounds appealing to you and you wouldn’t mind helping Verizon take the service for a spin, you might be interested to learn that you can now sign up to be a tester of the program.Verizon has recently launched a signup page in which interested customers can sign up to be part of the trial program. According to the message on the page, “We’re running a test for a new service designed to help you get more out of your mobile data plan. Verizon is working with various partners, and if you view the content from those partners while on a mobile connection, you will not be charged for that data.”
For those unfamiliar with the concept of sponsored data, basically this is where companies pay for data to deliver multimedia content to your mobile device, meaning that the data you consume while viewing said content like music or videos will not be counted towards your data allowance from your carrier.
No doubt this is a good idea but regulatory bodies like the FCC had previously expressed concern that such programs, like the one also being trialed by AT&T, could infringe upon net neutrality where carriers could end up prioritizing data that is being paid for by businesses.
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