Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If there was ever a compelling case to restore net neutrality this has to be it:
Quote:
The Santa Clara County Central Fire Protection District says a communications vehicle it dispatched to the Mendocino Complex, the largest wildfire in California’s history, was rendered essentially useless after Verizon reduced data speeds to a fraction of what firefighters needed.
Santa Clara’s complaint was lodged in a legal brief filed Monday as part of a major lawsuit aimed at restoring “net neutrality,” the doctrine that says all internet traffic must be treated equally. Led by a Trump administration appointee, the Federal Communications Commission last year repealed net neutrality, which had been implemented in 2015 by the Obama administration.
The chief said his agency complained to Verizon, but the telecom provider said the Santa Clara fire district had to switch to a more expensive data plan that would prevent throttling. Santa Clara’s firefighters on the scene used other agencies’ internet connections and their personal phones until the agency eventually subscribed to the better plan, he wrote. It wasn’t clear how long that took.
“This situation has nothing to do with net neutrality or the current proceeding in court,” the carrier said. “We made a mistake in how we communicated with our customer about the terms of its plan. https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/ca...dNQUlMLkNPTQ==
If there was ever a compelling case to restore net neutrality this has to be it:
Nope. This is simply a case of the fire department going over their data plan limits and instead of shutting off access.. Verizon throttled their access.
If you purchase a plan that comes with 5G of data per month.. There are several choices as to what can happen when you go over 5 Gigs. They can disable internet access.. They can bill you overage charges.. Or they can throttle.. Meaning, you have unlimited internet, but at lower speeds once you use your plan limits.
Has nothing to do with net neutrality. Don't argue that it needs to be reinstated, but this is not a case to use to do that.
Nope. This is simply a case of the fire department going over their data plan limits and instead of shutting off access.. Verizon throttled their access.
If you purchase a plan that comes with 5G of data per month.. There are several choices as to what can happen when you go over 5 Gigs. They can disable internet access.. They can bill you overage charges.. Or they can throttle.. Meaning, you have unlimited internet, but at lower speeds once you use your plan limits.
Has nothing to do with net neutrality. Don't argue that it needs to be reinstated, but this is not a case to use to do that.
Except that apparently Verizon did not properly advise them of their data restrictions and admit to that, and that does have everything to do with net neutrality. Under net neutrality the terms and extent of throttling have to be communicated to the customer.
From the link I previously provided:
Quote:
“This situation has nothing to do with net neutrality or the current proceeding in court,” the carrier said. “We made a mistake in how we communicated with our customer about the terms of its plan.
Without NN, Verizon has no liability for that lapse.
The plan that Verizon provided expressed specifically that once they went over their limit, they would be subject to slower speeds. The miscommunication is that Verizon has a policy that they will lift the throttling in emergency situations upon request. The person that they talked to in support told them that they'd have to upgrade their plan.
This, so far as NN is concerned, is a big nothing.
This is my understanding as well. This is normal data capping, which cell providers have been doing since the first cell phone. Just like they had text message caps back in the day; call minutes per month, etc.
Trying to make this about NN is blatant political posturing.
The plan that Verizon provided expressed specifically that once they went over their limit, they would be subject to slower speeds. The miscommunication is that Verizon has a policy that they will lift the throttling in emergency situations upon request. The person that they talked to in support told them that they'd have to upgrade their plan.
This, so far as NN is concerned, is a big nothing.
Ok, fair enough but Santa Clara County Counsel disagrees with you:
Quote:
In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a set of rules commonly known as the Net Neutrality Rules. The Net Neutrality Rules prohibit broadband internet service providers from discriminating against lawful internet traffic—generally by blocking it or slowing it down—for financial or other reasons. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who was elevated to that position by President Trump, led the FCC in a vote today to reverse the Net Neutrality Rules that protect consumers from discrimination by internet service providers.
The County has made substantial investments to develop and implement systems that provide critical health, welfare, and safety services over the internet, including emergency response services. For example, County Fire relies on internet-based systems to provide essential fire and emergency services. The FCC’s decision will jeopardize County residents’ ability to access these vital services, thereby threatening public health and safety, and will undermine the County’s investments.
“The County provides critical safety-net services to our neediest residents. The repeal of the Net Neutrality Rules would allow profit-seekers to burden the County, impact our residents and make it more difficult to provide critical information and services to those in need,” said County Board of Supervisors President Dave Cortese. “Silicon Valley has led the way in developing the Internet as we know it today, and we will play a leadership role in protecting it.”
“The FCC’s repeal of the Net Neutrality Rules is arbitrary and unjustified, and it is therefore unlawful” said Santa Clara County Counsel James R. Williams. “We will fight to protect the open internet, preserve the County’s ability to provide crucial health and safety services to our residents, and ensure that innovation continues to thrive in Silicon Valley.” https://www.sccgov.org/sites/opa/new...eutrality.aspx
So, I guess the best thing for everyone to do is decide if Santa Clara County has a real complaint or not huh?
Except that apparently Verizon did not properly advise them of their data restrictions and admit to that, and that does have everything to do with net neutrality. Under net neutrality the terms and extent of throttling have to be communicated to the customer.
From the link I previously provided:
Without NN, Verizon has no liability for that lapse.
Funny you didn't include the entire quote:
Quote:
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.”
It's a data cap that wasn't correctly lifted in an emergency.
Funny you didn't include the entire quote:
It's a data cap that wasn't correctly lifted in an emergency.
I provided the link that the quote was from, what more did I need to do to satisfy you, quote the entire article?
This is how the County Attorney responds to the Verizon claim that it was a 'customer service mistake"
Quote:
Santa Clara County disputed Verizon's characterization of the problem in a press release last night. "Verizon's throttling has everything to do with net neutrality—it shows that the ISPs will act in their economic interests, even at the expense of public safety," County Counsel James Williams said on behalf of the county and fire department. "That is exactly what the Trump Administration's repeal of net neutrality allows and encourages."
The ban on throttling wasn't the only aspect of net neutrality rules that could have gotten Verizon into trouble. The rules allowed Internet users to file complaints with the FCC about any unjust or unreasonable rates and practices, which could stop anti-consumer behavior that wasn't specifically prohibited. Current FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's decision to deregulate the broadband industry eliminated that complaint option this year and also limited consumers' rights to sue Internet providers over unjust or unreasonable behavior. Verizon had stopped selling unlimited data to new customers in 2011 but re-introduced unlimited data plans with potential throttling in February 2017, shortly after Wheeler was replaced as FCC chairman by Pai.
So, I think the argument is more nuanced than you are claiming...
There are 2 issues, and neither are NN. One, the fire dept had chosen a data plan that was inadequate for their needs, which was their mistake. Two, a Verizon employee didn't properly lift the resultant throttling during an emergency situation, which was a Verizon personnel issue. NN is not responsible for the mistakes of customers or telecom employees.
If there was ever a compelling case to restore net neutrality this has to be it:
I'm not having any of it.
This was all laid out in the service contract that the public employee signed when choosing the Verizon service. There was no communication from the customer to Verizon that indicated needs different than the agreement that was signed. It's not up to your cell phone company to follow you and assess your needs proactively in real time, making changes to your plan before you say so.
These plans allow alerts to be set up to warn when you're approaching your cap or throttle threshold.
There is no excuse by the Fire Department for their negligence to operate within the service levels to which they subscribed.
NEXT!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
