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Started By
Message
Verizon throttled fire department’s “unlimited” data during Calif. wildfire
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:40 am
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:40 am
LINK
Oh shite! I got the same rep when I called one time
Corporate policy > Public Safety
quote:
"County Fire has experienced throttling by its ISP, Verizon," Santa Clara County Fire Chief Anthony Bowden wrote in a declaration. "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."
quote:
Santa Clara Fire paid Verizon for "unlimited" data but suffered from heavy throttling until the department paid Verizon more, according to Bowden's declaration and emails between the fire department and Verizon that were submitted as evidence.
quote:
"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. My Information Technology staff communicated directly with Verizon via email about the throttling, requesting it be immediately lifted for public safety purposes."
quote:
"Verizon representatives confirmed the throttling, but rather than restoring us to an essential data transfer speed, they indicated that County Fire would have to switch to a new data plan at more than twice the cost, and they would only remove throttling after we contacted the Department that handles billing and switched to the new data plan," Bowden wrote.
Oh shite! I got the same rep when I called one time
quote:
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," Bowden wrote in his declaration.
Corporate policy > Public Safety
16
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:41 am to Placebeaux
Not a good look
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:42 am to Placebeaux
quote:
Verizon throttled fire department’s “unlimited” data during Calif. wildfire
Ok, that is probably an automated thing that kicks in.
quote:
"Verizon representatives confirmed the throttling, but rather than restoring us to an essential data transfer speed, they indicated that County Fire would have to switch to a new data plan at more than twice the cost, and they would only remove throttling after we contacted the Department that handles billing and switched to the new data plan," Bowden wrote.
Well, that is kind of fricked up.
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:43 am to Placebeaux
Shitty move on Verizon's part, but switching to the $99/mth plan isn't exactly some incredible financial burden.
I'm actually surprised they didn't have something that cheap in the first place.
I'm actually surprised they didn't have something that cheap in the first place.
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:44 am to Placebeaux
quote:
Corporate policy > Public Safety
This
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:44 am to Placebeaux
Verizon is a shite hole. I’m glad we didn’t appoint a former CEO of Verizon to an important position in the communications department of the government.
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:45 am to Placebeaux
quote:
UPDATE: In a statement to Ars three hours after this article was published, Verizon acknowledged that it shouldn't have continued throttling the fire department's data service after the department asked Verizon to lift the throttling restrictions.
"Regardless of the plan emergency responders choose, we have a practice to remove data speed restrictions when contacted in emergency situations," Verizon's statement said. "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."
Verizon also noted that the fire department purchased a data service plan that is slowed down after a data usage threshold is reached. But Verizon said it "made a mistake" in communicating with the department about the terms of the plan.
"We made a mistake in how we communicated with our customer about the terms of its plan," Verizon said. "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."
This post was edited on 8/22/18 at 7:46 am
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:47 am to slackster
quote:
I'm actually surprised they didn't have something that cheap in the first place.
They thought they did have truly unlimited service
quote:
Prziborowski expressed concern about the throttling in an email to Buss. "Before I give you my approval to do the $2.00 a month upgrade, the bigger question is why our public safety data usage is getting throttled down?" Prziborowski wrote. "Our understanding from Eric Prosser, our former Information Technology Officer, was that he had received approval from Verizon that public safety should never be gated down because of our critical infrastructure need for these devices." While fire department personnel thought they were already paying for "truly" unlimited data, Verizon said they weren't.
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:47 am to slackster
Some poor peon at the Verizon NOC is going to be out of a job today.
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:47 am to slackster
quote:
but switching to the $99/mth plan isn't exactly some incredible financial burden.
If it's per phone, then yeah, it can be a burden. Their 2017 report says they have 327 employees. That's potentially an additional $16,350/month.
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:50 am to slackster
Imagine being stuck fixing to DIAF and that last porn attempt is full of the bufferings.
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:50 am to BottomlandBrew
quote:
If it's per phone, then yeah, it can be a burden. Their 2017 report says they have 327 employees. That's potentially an additional $16,350/month.
I'm pretty sure that's not how these plans work.
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:51 am to GetCocky11
quote:
quote:
"Verizon representatives confirmed the throttling, but rather than restoring us to an essential data transfer speed, they indicated that County Fire would have to switch to a new data plan at more than twice the cost, and they would only remove throttling after we contacted the Department that handles billing and switched to the new data plan," Bowden wrote.
Well, that is kind of fricked up.
Was it email? It was it that online chat bullshite with Landon who's very happy to help you and is definitely the right person for the job....
Guessing they got a moron who didn't have a clue what the actual severity of the situation was and that they needed to immediately escalate it. Probably just treated them like the typical customer.
What I want to know is what unlimited plan were they on for 50? I pay more than 100 for my unlimited plan (just the data part) on just a handful of cell phones. I'm guessing they're talking about well more than a handful. Or was that just a single internet feed for a dispatch or something?
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:55 am to 50_Tiger
I can just hear the Verizon customer rep on the other end of the phone:
Firefighter: WE NEED SERVICE! PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!
Verizon CS rep: I appreciate your concern sir but in order to restore your service will we need authorization from an authorized person on the account in order to upgrade the account. There will also be a upgrade fee of 25.00 that will show up on your next bill alone with the rate increase.
Firefighter: YOU frickING BITCH
Firefighter: WE NEED SERVICE! PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!
Verizon CS rep: I appreciate your concern sir but in order to restore your service will we need authorization from an authorized person on the account in order to upgrade the account. There will also be a upgrade fee of 25.00 that will show up on your next bill alone with the rate increase.
Firefighter: YOU frickING BITCH
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:55 am to Placebeaux
quote:
Information Technology staff communicated directly with Verizon via email
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:56 am to slackster
quote:
I'm pretty sure that's not how these plans work.
I have 68 phones on Verizon. That's how it works. Last year I had to upgrade plans for unlimited data and it was per phone.
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:56 am to Placebeaux
quote:
they would only remove throttling after we contacted the Department that handles billing and switched to the new data plan
And that won't happen until you've spent at least an hour on hold and confirmed your account information no less than 5 times. "Yes, I know that you just gave all of this information to the last person but we still need you to confirm a few things before we can help you".
Posted on 8/22/18 at 7:58 am to Steadyhands
So was the fire department mislead when they bought the plan and thought they wouldn’t be throttled or or were they trying to save cost for the cheaper plan, knowing that they could be throttled?
Posted on 8/22/18 at 8:06 am to BottomlandBrew
quote:
have 68 phones on Verizon. That's how it works. Last year I had to upgrade plans for unlimited data and it was per phone.
Forgive me if I dont believe the FD is paying $200k/yr on wireless and then doubled it over a misunderstanding.
If that's the case, there is incompetency on both sides.
Posted on 8/22/18 at 8:07 am to BottomlandBrew
quote:
I have 68 phones on Verizon.
You really need to add 1 more line
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