Crazy, I've never heard of such a plan anywhere. But given how essential the internet is to everything we do on a daily basis, that makes a lot of sense. However, I would like to see the existing situation that lead to this decision. Were there many people who couldn't do things anymore due to lacking internet access? Was there public pressure to do this or did they just think it a good idea?

My assumption so far was that there are those who use the internet, they're usually fine, and those that don't - they won't benefit much. But no idea about South Korea. Anyway, cheaper and unlimited access is always a good idea!

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edent 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

At the height of the pandemic, the UK mandated zero-rating data for mobile connection to .gov.uk and .NHS.uk domains, along with several other charitable sites.

(I was part of the team working on that proposal.)

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aitchnyu an hour ago | parent [-]

Umm, was it more than an oppportunistic attack at net neurality?

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ratorx an hour ago | parent [-]

UK has never had net neutrality, there are many limited data phone plans that include unlimited music/video etc

	▲	daveoc64 10 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		The UK does have net neutrality, and it's quite strictly regulated by Ofcom, which produces an annual report showing compliance and highlighting any issues it has investigated: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/internet-based-services/network-neu... Things like restrictions on tethering and using a SIM in a router are forbidden. Unlike most countries, net neutrality has never been a political football in the UK. Ofcom groups zero rating schemes into three types: Type one - government and NGO services (always allowed). Type two - where categories of service (e.g. video or music streaming apps) are zero rated, but any service fitting into the category can apply to be zero rated by the network. Type three - any other kind of zero rating. Things like the VOXI Unlimited Social Media packages fit into Type Two, so are expressly permitted. For the rest, Ofcom assessed the impact on consumers, which is generally low.

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bobthepanda 27 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Even in the US which is well behind SK in the digital curve, I’ve heard anecdotally that a huge problem with reintegrating some populations like the homeless, poor or elderly is that job applications are virtually all online now.

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diath 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Maybe not general data cap exemption but for as long as I remember a lot of carriers in Europe whitelist certain apps that people think of as "essential" that work even when you've reached your data limit - such as WhatsApp and Messenger. Perhaps there are certain applications specific to South Korea that people think as essential/universal and expect them to work without a data plan (even maybe related to the digital ID thing they have there).

	▲	anthk an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Here in Spain a few years ago some ISP's just put a data cap about 2.7KBPS (2-3G?) and call it a day. Enough for text sites, messages and the like. But if you were smart (mosh, NNTP)... you could connect to some public Unix servers and fire up Lynx/Links at crazy speeds under a Tmux window and be able to read sites/blog posts and the like. And with edbrowse, even comment on some simple JS sites. With some cachés set for my audio player I could even listen to some odd Avant Gardé radio streams -think Frank Zappa like- at http://dir.xiph.org with 16 KBPS quality in OPUS format. Not totally robotic, it sounded better than old MP3's at 32KBPS.

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KellyCriterion 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

But to really reach the poor people, you would also need to deploy phones, not only data/traffic/WiFi: For sure for lot of people 10-20 USD monthly bill is already too high, but buying a phone that is somehow not outdated and capable of running all the apps needed, this is a much higher barrier (of lets say 200-300 USD for a somehow solid phone that will last some time9

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Ray20 an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> of lets say 200-300 USD for a somehow solid phone

More like 30-50 USD, judging by the research I did in 5 minutes (or 20-30 USD if you agree to a used phone).

No, I understand that Americans love to pay several times more for their houses, healthcare, education, coffee and everything else simply on principle, pretending that there are no other options, but you can literally google the largest phone manufacturers in the world and look at the prices of their current starter models.

And yes, we are talking about full-fledged smartphones that are quite pleasant to use, with up-to-date hardware and the latest versions of the operating system. Not some outdated torture devices with zero reliability.

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41 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

[deleted]

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KellyCriterion an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

> google the largest phone manufacturers in the world and look at the prices of their current starter models.

for most people at the very low end of low income and low education group, this is a huge barrier.

Look: I haven been neighbours with people who had to search their whole appartment for a working simple pen to take a note - when asking for it they looked at me like an Alien: Really poor and uneducated people have high barriers in even the simpelst things.

	▲	Ray20 36 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> for a working simple pen to take a note Well, I guess this means that they have successfully solved their smartphone availability problem. Otherwise, note taking tasks with a pen would be more important for them.

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smugma 16 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

In SF, I commonly see homeless people with cell phones

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roughly an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

A weird part about the modern world is that a cell phone is incredibly cheap compared to shelter, food, or just about anything else. You’d be surprised how many homeless folks have phones.

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gbear605 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Phones can be had for a lot less than that - you can find decent enough used phones that will last a year or two for under $100, which is cheap enough that almost everyone can scrounge together the money for it.

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oofbey an hour ago | parent [-]

I’m guessing you’ve never been poor. For people living in poverty, finding $100 for a one time purchase is extremely difficult - much more than say finding $10 per month. Finance options are notoriously predatory and expensive. Plus if it only lasts a year then the amortized cost is about the same as the hypothetical cheap service.

	▲	KellyCriterion an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Thanks! Exactly, this is what I was trying to tell: Its the barrier of accumulating the "once a time payment" in that volume, because methods for savings are not applied (for several reasons, unregular income, too low income, debt, drugs etc.)

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cwillu 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Canada requires mobile service providers to have a 35$ a month data plan, and the low-income support payments will add 35$ a month to the base rate if you provide a cell phone bill.

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calvinmorrison 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There are many such schemes for low income households in the united states to subsidize internet access for students. There were some federal and other programs.

Probably LTE is cheaper to deploy then actually wiring a house up anyway.

	▲	grahamburger 19 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I work with a US non-profit that has provided both free and very low cost Internet access over the last 4 years (fixed home wifi, no phone). We have primarily used 4G/5G, including private networks built and owned by the non-profit, public/private partnerships with cities that own a 4G network, and now primarily very low cost wifi hotspots serviced by a major carrier.
	▲	qingcharles 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The federal plans still exist, and the wires are already there in most homes, so most providers offer a tiny plan to fit the subsidy.

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troupo 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Were there many people who couldn't do things anymore due to lacking internet access?

Almost anythijg now requires internet access. Banking, schools, parking, transport tickets, almost any form of communication with almost any organization (besides phone, but some companies don't even have phone numbers anymore) etc.