Data throttling

[boondocks]

Wow, throttling data on an unlimited plan for firefighters fighting the wildfires? SMDH. https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/22/techno ... index.html

 

[kenny thomas]

I don't have unlimited data plan so each time I go on an emergency I end up going over my limit and paying extra. My fault for not having unlimited I guess but I really don't need. It when home

 

[greybeard]

I read about it late last night. Disgusting, with Verizon making excuses and trying to backpedal it's own policy and scape goating their representative that the command center spoke with.

 

[1982vett]

Hmm.....I know I ordered meatloaf but you should have brought me prime rib......

 

[Brute 23]

Hmm.....I know I ordered meatloaf but you should have brought me prime rib......

Exactly. Read the contract you sign. At the end of the day the screw up falls on them.

With that said, AT&T opened up their service and did not charge for overages during the hurricane. I do consider that a nice gesture that they by no means were required to do.

This is a modern reality. People use huge amounts of data now and its not going to get any less. The communication companies have to address this.

 

[greybeard]

To me, there's more than a little difference between what yall and I use and need personally for piddling around the internet and what firefighters and all other first responders need in emergency situations.
When their's and others' lives are at stake, it shouldn't be about $$$.

 

[boondocks]

Hmm.....I know I ordered meatloaf but you should have brought me prime rib......

I bet from their point of view, they ordered meatloaf and were given dog food.
Also, to not temporarily lift the throttling while people's lives were at stake? Immoral, even if (may be) legal.

 

[Brute 23]

Being that lives are on the line... you would think who ever signed the contract would have addressed that to protect their own people?

This is another case of people not wanting to accept personal responsibility and the fact that THEY screwed up... not Verizon.

 

[Brute 23]

... and FYI, if your life depends on a cell tower or put other people's lives in danger based off of cell service... your an idiot.

That's sloppy as a whole to have any life or death emergency system based off that. I suspect it was more of an incovience than life or death situation and they turned it in to a PR stunt.

 

[1982vett]

To me, there's more than a little difference between what yall and I use and need personally for piddling around the internet and what firefighters and all other first responders need in emergency situations.
When their's and others' lives are at stake, it shouldn't be about $$$.

All I'm saying is the got what they paid for. Evidently Verizon filled the order...emergency or not. It's the first responders outfitters that failed to provide the tools needed to insure the safety of everyone concerned. They don't send those trucks out with a tank of gas from Exxon and expect the next Exxon station up the road to refill it when it runs out of gas. And it's always about the $$$. How much did the emergency services "save" by going with a "cheaper" plan? My guess it bit them in the ask.

 

[boondocks]

To me, there's more than a little difference between what yall and I use and need personally for piddling around the internet and what firefighters and all other first responders need in emergency situations.
When their's and others' lives are at stake, it shouldn't be about $$$.

All I'm saying is the got what they paid for. Evidently Verizon filled the order...emergency or not. It's the first responders outfitters that failed to provide the tools needed to insure the safety of everyone concerned. They don't send those trucks out with a tank of gas from Exxon and expect the next Exxon station up the road to refill it when it runs out of gas. And it's always about the $$$. How much did the emergency services "save" by going with a "cheaper" plan? My guess it bit them in the ask.

Some of your assumptions may be a bit off, vett. In this instance, the firefighters (in the middle of the emergency) went along with Verizon's demands to pay more than twice as much to get their data unthrottled; even then, Verizon did not promptly unthrottle. They also admitted that they failed to properly advise the county about their throttling policy. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/201 ... -wildfire/

As an aside, I am more and more confused/gobsmacked every day by the degree to which working folks bend over backwards to defend the actions of multinational corporations against their fellow working stiffs--even the guys risking their lives fighting these fires. :???: I'm a big proponent of personal responsibility (one of my favorite rants in fact), but sorry, I don't see that the facts support that here...

 

[Jogeephus]

When you pay for the unlimited plan it should be just that - unlimited. In my mind unlimited means unlimited data and unlimited speed. Verizon is really taking advantage of the repeal of Net neutrality as I am paying for seven devices with unlimited data but one of the main hubs will exceed its limit and be throttled back while the other six remain well under the limit. To remedy this, I do as the firefighters did and stop using the designated hub and use the hotspot on another phone to gain access to unthrottled data. At the end of the month the total data usage is far less than what I've paid for for seven devices so Verizon is getting paid for more than they are providing thanks to the repeal of net neutrality.

 

[NEFarmwife]

Verizon does offer a decent discount to firemen. Something like 20% on every bill. I do not believe that is for your whole monthly charges but it saves us a little every month.

But it is up to the firemen when writing that contract, to make the reps aware they are a fireman to receive that discount. We also save on phones and accessories.

 

[bse]

Great last post Boondocks, so many agency`s there radios would be of no great help except between localities, so id think phones would be the perfect thing in todays world. Im sure no department there could plan for being out for that long, for sure not the ones that are not from that area, so they may never use that much data. I know if I call and change my plan it takes 30 sec and done. Maybe whatever dept just didn't expect this, it happens. They are just there willing to help.
we have a few brush fires around here, nothing like there, id take a house fire 2 to 1 over a brush fire, so IMO they need every bit of help and all the resources they can get there.
No matter who dropped the ball, should have been fixed quick.
And does anyone really believe it would be a PR stunt? who would benefit from such? Definitely an inconvenience if you don't know a 40ft wall of fire is headed towards you!!!!

 

[Brute 23]

PR Stunt was not the correct wording. They were definitely trying to play the victim game in the media we see all to often now days. All it actually did was show off their incompetence.

 

[Nesikep]

If a company boasts "fast data speeds" and "unlimited data", but throttles it at some point to an absolute crawl, that's false advertising

Here, buy this car, after 100 miles per month it'll slow down to 3 miles an hour.

 

[bse]

incompetence of who? As the chief or whoever was wanting more speed, id guess there budget is done by a city somewhere that has no idea what could happen, and they probably dont think there firefighters will be out there that long, but guess what in this case they are. im not a media fan by any means, but i do know if you want a change, as with Verizon, there a necessary evil.

 

[Brute 23]

Most all enet plans are like that now. I don't know of one that doesn't throttle after a certain amount.

 

[Jogeephus]

I've been real pleased with Verizon but when this net neutrality thing came up I specifically asked them at the store if this would have any effect on my unlimited plan and they said "No, not at all." Someone told me it would so I asked them again and was told the same thing.

I don't know exactly what happened to the firefighters but putting myself in their situation an paying for several devices I can glean that Verizon did the exact same thing to the firefighters as they did me which is to assign a certain amount of data use to individual devices. In their case the Incident Command Center used up its data allotment on its Jetpack and was throttled back which is why the firefighters ended up having to use "their" phones even though the fire unit was flipping the bill for all of these units and didn't exceed the total data allocation.

Personally, I think its a shoddy way to do business but I get around this by just using another unit's hotspot because the other units aren't used as a data hub like the Jetpack is. At the end of the day its more of an inconvenience and a reminder of how the consumer has little to no voice in Washington.

 

[boondocks]

...... At the end of the day its more of an inconvenience and a reminder of how the consumer has little to no voice in Washington.

Bingo.