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Verizon Wireless Caves To FCC Pressure, Says It Won't Throttle 4G Users
MetalliQaZ writes Verizon Wireless was scheduled to begin throttling certain LTE users today as part of an expanded "network optimization" program, but has decided not to follow through with the controversial plan after criticism from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler. All major carriers throttle certain users when cell sites get too congested, but Wheeler and consumer advocates objected to how carriers choose which customers to throttle. The fact that Verizon was throttling only unlimited data users showed that it was trying to boost its profits rather than implementing a reasonable network management strategy, Wheeler said.
A sensible decision from the FCC ?
Next you're gonna tell me they decided against the fast lanes?
"Unlimited" has as much meaning for Verizon as "Evil" does for Google.
-jon
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I've been keeping an eye on my speed today, waiting to see the hammer come down but my connection kept chugging away. Got both 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows 10 at full speed.
Verizon confirms new 'strangulation' policy.
Must give you credit when you cave correctly.
This is really just a PR spin on desperation. Verizon can't afford to alienate 4G users, they invested heavily in 4G (and dumped all new fios investments) because they thought 4G would be a cash cow. But all the data caps and throttling they've done have chased customers to free wifi hotspots and there ain't no reason to come back.
I wonder how he is going to be coming down on net neutrality? Anyone care to bet that it will be on the side of the internet providers? Give us a little sugar and then fuck us up the poop shoot!
I want to hate you! Stop being so fucking reasonable!
This bullshit is exactly why I decided to leave Verizon. I was one of their unlimited customers, and clearly they didn't want me enough to even offer me a reasonable out. While I don't have unlimited service anymore, at least my new carrier doesn't treat me like I'm doing something wrong just for abiding by the plan they put in place when I signed my contract.
I do still carry an unlimited data plan. I have been tethering for free for a few years now too, (wifi hotspot, bluetooth and via USB cable). As I reach somewhere from 6-9GB per month now of data usage, I still have my connection but it is throttled from the typical 15-20mbps, to more like 500kbps or less.
They're already throttling... what's this stupid FCC BS about? They don't have control.
...in Scandinavia (at least where I live) have been throttling their cellphone unlimited data plan users for a very long time, they don't ever admit to this so how do I know? Fairly simple. All four indicators (signal strength) indicates that the reception is top notch. Doesn't miss a call, but when you try to connect the phone to the computer to use it as a modem...things change pretty fast. The signal remains at full strength, but after surfing a few pages (or using roughly 1mbit), I got the famous 404 ...and of course, I couldn't surf anywhere. Still...how do I know?
Once I reset the data connection (on the mobile), I get about the same amount of surfing until the famous 404 shows its ugly face again. In the beginning I called the phone company Telenor again and again about this, and finally two technicians called me and told me they had a capacity issue in my area, and that it wouldn't be economically viable to put up another relay or increase the capacity. But they denied throttling it, but said that they where working on "optimization". Confession right there. 4 years later, same story. Luckily I'm on a land line now.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
Does this same warning apply to users of sprint "unlimited" data?
"Caves to FCC Pressure"? Really?
Oh that poor Verizon, can't just exploit its customers like so many sheep to the slaughter, what is this world coming to.
Samzenpus is really trying to turn this place into FoxSlash, isn't he? This some of the most sycophantic corporate-asslicking prose I've seen here so far.
"I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
While I still dislike most of the political rhetoric coming out of Verizon and Verizon Wireless, I have to concede that this is a huge benefit for me personally. I'm an unlimited 4G customer who uses my phone as my primary Internet connection (I pay an extra $30/month for the privilege of "legally" tethering via the built-in Mobile Hotspot app that comes standard with Android; the app is disabled if you don't pay up).
It's plenty fast enough for my needs, even when the network is congested. It's a perfectly viable primary Internet connection, with native IPv6, and can be shared with desktops, laptops, smart devices, tablets, and other phones using 802.11ac, Bluetooth, or USB RNDIS.
I'm perfectly fine with being temporarily slowed down if the tower I'm on is congested. All they have to do is use a fair queue algorithm, not too dissimilar to what the Linux kernel's I/O scheduler does. But what was being proposed was to single out unlimited data users who use more than a certain amount of data, and slow them down artificially even more than everyone else.
I think this brought me back from the brink of having to face the prospect of getting ADSL or cable again. The problem with these services, in my area at least, is that every time we've ever tried them, they prove to have about a 50% uptime. That is to say, they're very intermittently available. They may not go down for 2 weeks at a stretch every month, but you'll certainly experience 10, 20, or 30 different 2 or 3 minute dropout periods during the course of a single day; sometimes the dropouts are longer, and sometimes there are more or less of them. I experience nothing of the sort with LTE.
While it would take the construction of many more towers in suburban and urban areas to be able to offer *every* customer unlimited data on LTE (or even to increase the typical monthly cap from around 2 GB to around 200 GB), and some people think that it would require the construction of "too many" towers, I'm still glad that this decision benefits me.
I'm certainly not going to become a Verizon Wireless booster, singing their praises on high; but this gives me a little respite from the endless barrage of anti-consumer laws and corporate practices that have been coming down the pipe lately.
A little bit of sanity goes a long way, in this case. For me and thousands of others who still have unlimited data.
You're throwing away 30 dollars a month. Paying to have it unlocked doesn't make it legal. It's already legal.
Comment removed based on user account deletion