Verizon To Throttle High-Bandwidth Users

tekgoblin writes "Verizon has enacted a new policy today that allows them to throttle 'high' bandwidth users on their network. We're not sure exactly what 'high' means but it is probably over 2GB of data per month. This comes as the iPhone launches on Verizon's network. The policy is said to only affect the top 5% of data users on the network. When these 5% of users hit the soft limit they will be throttled during peak times of the day. From the note sent to customers: 'Verizon Wireless strives to provide customers the best experience when using our network, a shared resource among tens of millions of customers. To help achieve this, if you use an extraordinary amount of data and fall within the top 5% of Verizon Wireless data users we may reduce your data throughput speeds periodically for the remainder of your then current and immediately following billing cycle to ensure high quality network performance for other users at locations and times of peak demand. Our proactive management of the Verizon Wireless network is designed to ensure that the remaining 95% of data customers aren't negatively affected by the inordinate data consumption of just a few users.'"

Aka:

[Anonymous Coward]

Also known as: We don't want to look like AT&T when a shit ton of people start using their iPhone on our network.

Re:Bandwidth, People

[MrEricSir]

The problem isn't the protocol, it's wireless bandwidth. Even with better hardware and better compression, there's only so much data you can cram in the airwaves.

Why do these people keep pushing video?!

[rta]

What i don't understand is why the network providers keep pushing mobile video and tethering.

T-mobile is pushing their video chat... Sprint is saying you can upload live video directly to the web etc.

The networks already can't handle the level of data usage they currently get, yet they're pushing these very high bandwidth services. Don't get me wrong, i like that my t-mo G2 with stock firmware can do wifi and USB tethering. But i would also like it if my "4G" phone on the "4G" network got more than 400kbps download rates (in one of their 4G launch cities). If there's any level of adoption of this stuff it'll bring their networks to a halt and not due to any top 5% users.

Thinng the herd?

[creativeHavoc]

Assuming usage stays fairly constant for each user per month... wont think eventually bring down their average usage over time? The first month, top 5% are scaled back, and you assume as the throttling continues into the next month, they will no longer be the top users. So then there is a new top 5%... and these users are using less than what last month's top 5% used... as they get carried over in the next billing cycle, this continues until it hits some threshold...

advertising reality

[Golden_Rider]

What I never understand is how all those companies can get away with showing ads with happy people who use tons of video streaming, internet radio/music/video download shops and other highish bandwidth stuff, claim "sign up here and enjoy all these awesome things!", when the reality is that if you actually DO use all this stuff every day, you are told to stop doing that because you are an asocial bandwidth hog.

Either advertise it and let people do it, or don't advertise it. And especially do not advertise it if you know from the start that it is not technically possible for lots of people to use these options because your network is not good enough.

Re:Why don't carriers just use these exact terms?

[PopeRatzo]

Most people understand that there's not enough licensed RF spectrum

"Most people" don't know what "the licensed RF spectrum" means, much less understand its limitations.

They just know they paid for one thing and are going to get something less. I guarantee there are new Verizon iPhone users who believe they have "unlimited" plans.

Re:iPhone

[GayBliss]

Is Verizon advertising a guaranteed bandwidth? I haven't seen one. They're not cutting off service, but throttling it to a lower speed. It's still unlimited. This is exactly what Telefonica in Spain does and I think it's a good idea. Instead of charging you some huge rate past a certain limit that you may not know you passed, they just reduce the speed. It still works at the slower speed (although streaming video might not work so well), and it only affects those customers that are streaming audio or video very often.

5%?

[cshake]

5% - It seems small at first, but when you realize that they have 94.1 million subscribers in the US [wikipedia.org], that's 4.7 million people they're throttling. If they identify that number of people as using "extraordinary amount[s] of data", I'd say that there's a more fundamental problem here.

And note the part where you get throttled for your entire next billing cycle too.

I'm not a Verizon subscriber, and I still use a "dumb" phone without a data plan, but this still seems that they need to change what they're offering up front instead of giving everything and then taking it back if you dare use it.

I dont get this .

[unity100]

if i PAY for something, i expect to be able to USE it.

if you sell/rent a car to me, and then tell me that i can not use it on mondays, i shove the keys up your ass. if you drop a shady clause in the contract saying that you can modify the terms of the contract at any point at your leisure, then do the mondays thing after that, i still shove up the keys up your ass.

so at this point, i am at a loss to understand, how can american corporations violate the very BASE mechanics of trade and business, and get away with it.

Re:2GB is far too little for "unlimited"

[h4rr4r]

"Contributing to the problem" is one odd fucking way of spelling "using the service she is paying for". Do you work for verizon or just shill for free?