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Verizon Throttles Data To "Provide Incentive To Limit Usage"

Posted by timothy on from the tell-me-more-about-the-word-unlimited dept.

An anonymous reader writes About a week ago, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asked for Verizon's justification on its policy of throttling users who pay for unlimited data usage. "I know of no past Commission statement that would treat 'as reasonable network management' a decision to slow traffic to a user who has paid, after all, for 'unlimited' service," the FCC wrote. In its response, Verizon has indicated that its throttling policy is meant to provide users with an incentive to limit their data usage. The company explained that "a small percentage of the customers on these [unlimited] plans use disproportionately large amounts of data, and, unlike subscribers on usage-based plans, they have no incentive not to do so during times of unusually high demand....our practice is a measured and fair step to ensure that this small group of customers do not disadvantage all others."

12 of 316 comments (clear)

  1. There is no incentive because they PAY for it! by TheRealQuestor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We kick you in the head because we care!

    1. Re:There is no incentive because they PAY for it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We give you tiny plate at all-you-can-eat buffet because we care.

    2. Re:There is no incentive because they PAY for it! by mikeiver1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I have a Verizon account with 2 cells and one data card on the unlimited plan. I pay $216 a month for the whole thing. In the past they were to only internet I could get in the third world city of Santa Ana, CA that we lived in. We used to stream netflix and game on the connection, sometimes running well into the high teens of GB. I did get a notice from them to the effect that they were going to cap or throttle me should this continue. I responded that a lawsuit for breach of contract sounded fun and that I would be happy to take them there after contacting the press. I informed them that I had logs from my DEDICATED firewall showing the average transfer rates and volumes etc over past months and I would be happy to see them in court in front of a jury of "my" peers. It was not to long after that that the tower that they leased was dropped and the signal went to crap in our area. So fuck them I says, I built a very high gain Yagi/Uda and put it on the roof facing the tower that I now had to hit. I went from -103dBm to -52dBm and got the bit rate back up. I then started downloading ISOs for fun and pulled down near 23GB that month. All the while logging. They then called me again and I promptly told them that unlimited was what I signed on for and I was paying for. I was using 3G and they had 4G rolled in the area. I suggested that they move me to the 4g or stop calling and wasting both our time. They chose option 2. The phone, electric, banks, and gas companies are out of control but they pay big sums to the assholes on the hill so they can be. The load is transferred to the assholes of the middle class. Half the time I feel like I am going to burp up corporate cum from getting fucked so hard from so many different companies and the governments.

    3. Re:There is no incentive because they PAY for it! by davester666 · · Score: 5, Funny

      and when we are especially busy with people who order a la carte, we get the waiters to trip you on your way to the buffet...

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    4. Re: There is no incentive because they PAY for it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I wouldn't call that abuse, it's what you PAID for. If these swindling thieves at Verizon cannot provide 100% capacity to 100% of their customers at all times, then they are overselling their service and pocketing the money instead of using that money to build out their infrastructure. They are committing fraud.

      I'm glad my ISP doesn't do any of this shit and I can use my full capacity 24/7.

    5. Re:There is no incentive because they PAY for it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It seems very clear. If Verizon thinks it's okay to throttle bandwidth to "provide incentive to limit usage", then when it comes time to pay the bill, pay only 70-80% to "provide incentive to lower your monthly bill".

  2. Re:Kinda like - by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, it would be like buying a bus pass but then being told you're using it too much so they won't let you on the bus as an "incentive" to ride less.

  3. This would all be resolved... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...if the government would just cut the crap, close the loophole, and apply the common carrier designation to these greedy service providers.

    Unfortunately, America is the greatest country in the world that money can buy.

  4. cretinous because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All they need to do is state a limit (200G 500G, 2T?, ...) at which throttling will kick in, and stop lying about 'unlimited'. American corporations are so addicted to getting away with telling lies that they don't seem to even know when they're doingit.

  5. Re:Equal Share of Bandwidth by dunkindave · · Score: 5, Informative

    Except what Verizon is doing is throttling only people with "unlimited" plans during peak times. People on paid usage plans are not subject to the same throttling. This isn't apparent throttling because of congestion, this is Verizon actively saying that because you have an unlimited plan, they will not allow you to use the available bandwidth, while if you drop the unlimited plan and subscribe to a metered plan then you CAN use the available bandwidth. Unfortunately the quote by the Commissioner is being dropped in these later articles where he said that he can see no legitimate claim for reasonable network management to be based on which plan a user subscribes to.

  6. Loony as a tune by jtownatpunk.net · · Score: 5, Informative

    Verizon is just plain psychotic. When they were advertising the upcoming 4G LTE service years ago, their advertising copy said users would be able to stream video and download HD movies. All kinds of wonderful things that weren't possible with the new caps they'd put on 3G. Then they rolled out LTE with the same caps as 3G. So, sure you could download Air Bud in HD but that'd be your data for the month.

    Now they're all excited about XLTE doubling (or more) the speed available thru Verizon's network. I've seen those speeds and they're amazing. Absolutely freaking amazing. And totally useless to anyone without an unlimited account. WTF is a new customer supposed to do with 80 Mb/s down and 40 Mb/s up? That's the kind of speed I saw near Atlanta. Holy Hell, that's fast. Faster than any wired service I've had. And totally useless if you can only move 2 gigs a month. Why are they spending all this money speeding up their network when it's wasted on their customers. It's crazy.

    And the numbers Verizon is throwing around don't make a lick of sense. (Of course, I can't find the exact numbers now so I'll guestimate.) They say around 20% of their customer base still has unlimited data. They say 95% of those people use less than 5 gigs of data per billing cycle. If those two statements are true, why is Verizon upset? They should be ecstatic. They cut off unlimited data in 2010 so they're claiming an amazing retention rate. And the vast, vast, vast majority of those people are overpaying for what they use. And they're paying full MSRP for unsubsidized equipment. Why on earth would Verizon want to rock that boat?

  7. Keep voting, sheep by ourlovecanlastforeve · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What I don't understand is how we're still allowing carriers to call their service "unlimited."

    When I pay my water bill and I am told I get unlimited water, I don't expect the water company to decrease the flow of water to a trickle if I take too many showers.

    If they did that, there would be an uprising.

    When I pay the electric company for electricity I don't expect them to decrease the voltage on my line if I leave the TV on while I'm sleeping.

    So... how is it that Verizon gets to tell me I am paying for unlimited data, but not provide unlimited data?

    Where is the uprising for this lie?