AT&T made it very clear Wednesday who is in charge. In a terse, borderline condescending note, AT&T lectured some of its customers for voicing their objections to the company's new policy regarding Apple's FaceTime app. The note is actually refreshingly honest and free of spin, offering a glance into how the company views itself and its relationship with the people who use its network.

First, a quick recap: In June, Apple revealed that its extremely competent video-chatting app, FaceTime, which had previously been limited to Wi-Fi, would be coming the 3G and 4G networks with the release of iOS 6 this fall. I was there in San Francisco's Moscone Center when Apple's Scott Forstall made the announcement, and the crowd reacted with genuine enthusiasm.

Then last week, it was AT&T's turn to explain just how FaceTime would work. The carrier said it would enable the app at no extra charge, but with a big caveat: It would only be available to customers who subscribe to one of AT&T's new sharing plans, which let users share a data plan across multiple devices.

That's when AT&T's customers freaked.

Many howled with rage at the limitation, and understandably so. FaceTime actually works extremely well — in my experience, the quality is consistently better than Skype even if it doesn't boast nearly as many features — so many iOS users were no doubt looking forward to using the service (although likely with poorer quality) anytime, anywhere.

The Net Neutrality Issue

Some went so far as to accuse AT&T for violating the FCC's Net Neutrality rules, which basically state that service providers can't arbitrarily restrict services over their networks, especially those that compete with the providers' own services.

Then today, in a blog post, AT&T Chief Privacy Officer Bob Quinn leapt to the carrier's defense, schooling users on exactly what the Net Neutrality rules state and how AT&T isn't violating them with its new policy.

I'm no lawyer. I can't say whether AT&T is following the letter of the law, but the tone of Quinn's post reveals a company that's had it up to here with being constantly vilified. AT&T has taken a beating after beating in recent years over the quality of its network, its failed bid to acquire T-Mobile and throttling the data speeds of its most loyal customers. And it's not taking it anymore.

Reading Between the Lines

In the post, Quinn says anyone who says AT&T is violating FCC rules is having a "knee-jerk reaction" and is flat-out wrong. This kind of pointed clarity is pretty typical of official legal responses, but then Quinn really gets going.

"The FCC’s net neutrality rules do not regulate the availability to customers of applications that are preloaded on phones," Quinn writes. "Indeed, the rules do not require that providers make available any preloaded apps." (emphasis his)

This is really astonishing. Quinn's basically saying AT&T is doing you a big favor by permitting everything from Safari to the silly little Compass app to come pre-installed on your phone. A paragraph later, Quinn reinforces his point: "Although the rules don’t require it, some preloaded apps are available without charge on phones sold by AT&T, including FaceTime, but subject to some reasonable restrictions."

He brings the point home a few lines later when he says, "To be clear, customers will continue to be able to use FaceTime over Wi-Fi irrespective of the data plan they choose." Using Wi-Fi for FaceTime has nothing to do with AT&T or its network, so why even mention it? Unless you want to send a message about why the app is there in the first place.

That message is clear. What Quinn's really saying is: We could totally replace those cute Apple apps with our own junk, guys, so, you know, be grateful.

Wireless Honesty

It's a chilling message, but like I said, it's refreshingly honest. Quinn's missive paints a picture of a wireless carrier that's tired of being the tech world's whipping boy and wants to firmly assert the power it does have — which is actually considerable considering how important mobile networks are to our digital lives.

It must have been particularly stinging when critics cited FCC rules, since the regulatory body recently quashed AT&T's hopes of buying T-Mobile, which led to the carrier issuing an angry statement about the failed merger. The icy relationship the carrier has with the FCC can only hurt it, however, and if its leadership is smart, they should start working on a thaw.

Regardless, the FaceTime note betrays a company that's frustrated, but still powerful. Anger it at your peril.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, vicm