Turns out, it was pretty much exactly as I thought. Clueless employee,
misleading advertising, not really a net neutrality issue (but why split
hairs), and stupidity. What kind of idiot wastes time arguing with
firefighters, insisting the throttling would continue until the fire department
changed their monthly plan? All this while they are fighting this huge fire?
"The fire department paid for an unlimited plan from Verizon but suffered heavy
throttling until it agreed to pay more for another plan, ..."
Much like what happened at Comcast, when they throttled Netflix. Bone-headed
greed, which soon makes the situation even worse for the ISP.
"While Verizon insists that this mistake had nothing to do with net neutrality,
the incident has been linked to the issue."
As any halfwit should have expected.
"Under this plan, users get an unlimited amount of data but speeds are reduced
when they exceed their allotment until the next billing cycle."
Then the FTC should step in, and put an end to this doubletalk. Unlimited
should be unlimited. As it was, after reaching the limit, Verizon throttled the
rate down to 1/200th of their normal speed, which rendered the fire department
apps unusable (timeouts). In short, false advertising. In practice, the plan
was not unlimited at all.
"Late Monday, attorneys general of 22 states and the District of Columbia filed
a brief urging a US Appeals Court to reverse the Federal Communications
Commission's rollback of Obama-era rules governing an open internet. The wave
of support underscores the notion that while the net neutrality rules are gone,
the push to bring them back isn't. On Wednesday, that California committee
opted to push forward that state net neutrality bill over the objections of
companies such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast.
The story originally published on Aug. 21 at 9:44 p.m. PT."
Good deal! A repeat of 2014-2015, only difference being, this time we have a
corrupt, dysfunctional, banana republic FCC involved, fully in bed with the
excessively greedy service providers. Perhaps we should be hoping for more such
shenanigans, so even the Congresscritters from the Party of Stupid will finally
understand what's at stake here.
We are talking about the US telecoms. Not some frivolous entertainment service.
Wake the hell up.
Bert
----------------------------------------------------
https://www.cnet.com/news/verizons-throttling-of-firefighter-data-during-california-fire-raises-net-neutrality-concerns/
Verizon's throttling of firefighter data during California fire raises net
neutrality concerns
This isn't really about net neutrality, but that's not stopping supporters to
express their concerns over the power of internet service providers.
by
Steven Musil
August 23, 2018 9:25 AM PDT
Verizon Wireless says a customer service error -- not a violation of net
neutrality -- was responsible for the continued throttling of the wireless data
service of a fire department vehicle during a recent battle of a California
wildfire.
But that hasn't stopped net neutrality supporters from pointing at the incident
as an example of the kind of potential treatment that internet and wireless
service providers can offer now that the rules for governing an open internet
are stripped away.
The issue cropped up on Monday after the Santa Clara Fire Department said in a
court filing that while it was helping fight the Mendocino Complex fire -- the
largest wildfire in the state's history -- the crew assigned to one of the
department's trucks saw its service dramatically impeded.
"County Fire has experienced throttling by its ISP, Verizon," Santa Clara
County Fire Chief Anthony Bowden wrote in the filing, reported on earlier by
Ars Technica. "This throttling has had a significant impact on our ability to
provide emergency services. Verizon imposed these limitations despite being
informed that throttling was actively impeding County Fire's ability to provide
crisis-response and essential emergency services."
While Verizon insists that this mistake had nothing to do with net neutrality,
the incident has been linked to the issue. During a Wednesday discussion by a
California state assembly committee of a proposed net neutrality bill, one of
the assemblymen brought up the Verizon issue as a concern and one reason why he
supported stronger regulations. The firefighter incident has sparked a lot of
anger at Verizon, which makes it easy to link the issue with the emotionally
charged debate over net neutrality.
Ultimately, this isn't a net neutrality issue. This incident dealt with
firefighters exceeding their limit of data, while net neutrality deals with how
different kinds of traffic or content is treated. Verizon wasn't playing
favorites when it came to the data that the firefighters received. It --
wrongly, by its own admission -- slowed down the connection because of the
volume of data, not the specific type. Those nuances sometimes get lost in the
heated argument over net neutrality.
The fire department paid for an unlimited plan from Verizon but suffered heavy
throttling until it agreed to pay more for another plan, according to an
addendum to a legal brief filed by 22 state attorneys general that seeks to
overturn the rollback of net neutrality rules earlier this year by the FCC.
"The Internet has become an essential tool in providing fire and emergency
response, particularly for events like large fires which require the rapid
deployment and organization of thousands of personnel and hundreds of fire
engines, aircraft, and bulldozers," Bowden wrote.
The throttling affected "OES 5262," a command and control vehicle that helps
track and deploy firefighter resources around the state and country where
there's the greatest need, Bowden said.
"In the midst of our response to the Mendocino Complex Fire, County Fire
discovered the data connection for OES 5262 was being throttled by Verizon, and
data rates had been reduced to 1/200, or less, than the previous speeds,"
Bowden wrote. "These reduced speeds severely interfered with the OES 5262's
ability to function effectively."
Bowden said his staff communicated with Verizon about the throttling but was
told by representatives for the wireless carrier the throttling would continue
until the unit switched to a new data plan that cost twice the previous plan.
In a statement Tuesday, Verizon acknowledged it erred in continuing to throttle
the unit's data service after the department requested restrictions be lifted,
calling it a miscommunication unrelated to net neutrality. Verizon said in a
statement:
Like all customers, fire departments choose service plans that are best for
them. This customer purchased a government contract plan for a high-speed
wireless data allotment at a set monthly cost. Under this plan, users get an
unlimited amount of data but speeds are reduced when they exceed their
allotment until the next billing cycle. Regardless of the plan emergency
responders choose, we have a practice to remove data speed restrictions when
contacted in emergency situations. We have done that many times, including for
emergency personnel responding to these tragic fires. In this situation, we
should have lifted the speed restriction when our customer reached out to us.
This was a customer support mistake. We are reviewing the situation and will
fix any issues going forward.
Late Monday, attorneys general of 22 states and the District of Columbia filed
a brief urging a US Appeals Court to reverse the Federal Communications
Commission's rollback of Obama-era rules governing an open internet. The wave
of support underscores the notion that while the net neutrality rules are gone,
the push to bring them back isn't. On Wednesday, that California committee
opted to push forward that state net neutrality bill over the objections of
companies such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast.
The story originally published on Aug. 21 at 9:44 p.m. PT.
Update, Aug. 23 at 9:25 a.m. PT: To include additional details and discussion
over net neutrality.
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