So Verizon throttled Calif fire department's “unlimited” data during Calif. wildfire then makes a commercial patting themselves on the back

[ichingcarpenter]

After throttling firefighters, Verizon praises itself for “sav[ing] lives”

Verizon is touting its commitment to firefighters and public safety in a new ad, released weeks after Verizon throttled the Santa Clara County fire department while it was fighting California's largest-ever wildfire.

"From coast to coast and everywhere in between, people rely on us to ensure they can communicate when they need it most," Verizon said in an introduction to the new ad. "Our innovations and technology allow first responders to do their jobs. What we do saves lives."

The ad, titled "Enabling heroes," received a chilly reception on YouTube, leading Verizon to disable comments and voting on the video. The video is still being panned in a Reddit discussion.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/10/after-throttling-firefighters-verizon-praises-itself-for-saving-lives/


The thing is the story didn't really hit the network news (que surprise) except MAYBE in a 30sec spot and at the same time the national battle for net neutrality was going on and people were dying and homes were a burnin.

I just saw the commercial on TV and almost threw up because of the hypocrisy and the mind tricks they play on the ignorant public.

[Deux Corbeaux]

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Verizon Wireless' throttling of a fire department that uses its data services has been submitted as evidence in a lawsuit that seeks to reinstate federal net neutrality rules.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/08/verizon-throttled-fire-departments-unlimited-data-during-calif-wildfire/

Santa Clara apparently switched to the $99.99 plan, more than doubling its bill.
"While Verizon ultimately did lift the throttling, it was only after County Fire subscribed to a new, more expensive plan," Santa Clara County Fire Chief Anthony Bowden wrote in a declaration. .

This was purely a money grab indeed ......

[christian]

You use a lot of data, you pay for it. It's a money grab like, "you eat a lot of hot-dogs, you pay for them."

They explicitly say at Ars Technica that "all major carriers impose some form of throttling on unlimited plans when customers use more than a certain amount of data."

So basically there is no "unlimited" plan, because every plan with that label has indeed a cap.

It doesn't have anything to do with net neutrality either. In fact, Verizon in this case complies with net neutrality. Because no data is favored or discriminated against in particular. They throttle all data after a certain amount is reached. That is perfectly consistent with net neutrality.

However, the article at Ars Technica refers to a lawsuit that wants to reinstate "federal net neutrality rules." That's very important. Because "federal net neutrality rules" are not the same as "net neutrality rules."

Federal net neutrality rules (partly described in Title II of the Communications Act of 1934!) contain some sneaky malarky, like the possibility for the federal regulators to set prices or the very vague "general conduct" rule, which means whatever the regulators decide it means and gives them the possibility to pretty much fine ISPs as they please, essentially giving the feds enormous leverage to manipulate this entire industry.

The lawsuit that wants to reinstate "federal net neutrality rules" would probably argue that fire departments need unlimited access to the internet at full speed, which sounds reasonable. But then I'd say, they should pay for it. Otherwise it's just an incremental federalization of ISPs (forcing them to provide a service for whatever compensation the feds consider appropriate).

Personally, I'd go beyond net neutrality for fire departments. I'd argue they should have not only true unlimited data but also prioritized access during times of network congestion. That would violate net neutrality, because it would priotize data from and to fire deparments over other people's data, but exactly for that violation of net neutrality it would ensure stable communications for fire departments at all times.

[DeDukshyn]

It seems like just yesterday, in the dawning age of the internet ... as long as you had a phone line - you had access to the internet. It was free. The whole amazing thing about it was that it was like a whole new dimension in communication and it was available to anyone with a computer and phone line.

Enter: The "Almighty" dollar ...
Enter: "Big Brother"
Exit: All the great things that the internet represented to humanity.