Microsoft moves to prevent bill shock by zero rating Windows Phone 8.1 update data charges

Free downloads of updates over the cellular network is coming to Windows Phone 8.1.

NokiaPowerUser reports that Windows Phone 8.1 GDR1 will support “zero-rating” of mobile downloads to Microsoft’s update servers, allowing users to download updates without affecting their data caps.

The OEM documentation states:

This topic shows how Mobile Operators (MOs) can enable and test Windows Phone updates to work with zero-rating. Zero-rating allows users to download data, such as device updates, without being charged for data usage.

Enabling zero-rating:
Add the following two URLs to your network as zero-rated sites:

http://wp.download.windowsupdate.com

http://wp.ds.download.windowsupdate.com

Once those URLs are zero-rated, there are no more actions to take to get zero rating in place. It will be effective for all Windows Phone devices (both operator variant and open market devices). The first eligible update for zero rating is Windows Phone 8.1 GDR1.

It is likely this will enable users to download large updates over the air also, without needing to hunt for a WIFI network, which in some countries is not as available as one may think.

Microsoft writes:

The update size limit is set to 100 MB by default. However, MOs can configure the update size limit and zero-rate the update downloads.

Hopefully this feature will become available soon and also be widely supported.

Via NPU