[Breaking]Verizon Plans to Slow Downloads of High Data Users Because of iPhone Launch

[Beardface]

If I had to guess, they are going to end up throttling down most, if not all Android users to scale them back to iPhone speeds, to make the Apple product look more appetizing.

Top 5% of wireless data users. Not Top 5% of 3G users or even Top 5% of smartphone users. Just the Top 5% of anyone who uses the data plan. I am willing to guess that 50% or more of the users on this site will have their usage throttled.

 

[dfuser312553]

Not surprising just disappointing.

 

[mr_silent]

I'm on a regional carrier network and average 12gigs a month with out tether, never been throttled and they let my bill run as much as a month late before cutting me. Glad I'm not in the lower 48. That sounds lame. Catering to iphones would probably lead to a class action lawsuit for vzw. You can't charge people for the same service and prefer not to limit one group of people because they have a different brand of phone. Tort lawyers get ready!

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums App

 

[mr_silent]

How bout you guys get together and maximize your downloads for the two months follwing the iphones release just to stick it back in vzw's face.

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums App

 

[czerdrill]

I'm on a regional carrier network and average 12gigs a month with out tether, never been throttled and they let my bill run as much as a month late before cutting me. Glad I'm not in the lower 48. That sounds lame. Catering to iphones would probably lead to a class action lawsuit for vzw. You can't charge people for the same service and prefer not to limit one group of people because they have a different brand of phone. Tort lawyers get ready!

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums App

it's not so much catering to iphones as protecting the integrity of their network really...like i said, only those who use ridiculous amounts of data are going to be affected. yes, it's verizon who determines what the definition of "extraordinary" is, but do people really believe that it's 250MB? I mean...really?

I can understand your frustration if you're legitimately using a crapload of data and you're going to be throttled. the truth of the matter is, you are a minority in the sense that the people who legitimately use 20+GB a month can probably be counted on your fingers.

That's not to say that vzw doesn't favor apple over google. of course they do. it's apple, and it's the best selling and most desired smartphone on the planet. obviously apple will get to call a few shots, and that's because their phone is going to bring vzw a lot of money. but in this case, very few people who legitimately use the service are going to be affected.

you're not going to suddenly experience a throttle while you check your facebook on your phone...everyone just relax

 

[EgooEspada]

Things like this are why I hoped to never see the iPhone on VZW.

Yup. Its pretty obvious now to see why a Verizon customer like myself did not want the iPhone to come. So much has changed and more is on it's way. Verizon has fallen to their knees for Apple. So sadly, things are going to go South.

Also, the "Top 5%" can be describe in different way. I don't think the limit would be anywhere near 50GB. I'm sure there are quite a few, but aren't many that actually reach that high. I'm guessing at max people who use around 10GB is when it will start hitting people.

 

[lumpysherman]

Running between 6-9GB/month. I listen to Sirius/XM at work and our company won't let any device that is not a company resource on the network. This would bite but probably wouldn't affect audio streaming, at least I hope not.

 

[takeshi]

what is the criteria for "Top 5%"? if 95% off there data user are using like 250MB does that mean anyone over that limit is in the "top 5%"? this was how AT&T determined their tier data plan,no?

If they're actually using top 5% it would depend on the usage. The sources don't say what usage that equates to for the cutoff.

We've known that unlimited data wasn't going to be unlimited well before the iPhone was ever announced for VZW.

 

[1linuxfreak]

I'm on a regional carrier network and average 12gigs a month with out tether, never been throttled and they let my bill run as much as a month late before cutting me. Glad I'm not in the lower 48. That sounds lame. Catering to iphones would probably lead to a class action lawsuit for vzw. You can't charge people for the same service and prefer not to limit one group of people because they have a different brand of phone. Tort lawyers get ready!

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums App

it's not so much catering to iphones as protecting the integrity of their network really...like i said, only those who use ridiculous amounts of data are going to be affected. yes, it's verizon who determines what the definition of "extraordinary" is, but do people really believe that it's 250MB? I mean...really?

I can understand your frustration if you're legitimately using a crapload of data and you're going to be throttled. the truth of the matter is, you are a minority in the sense that the people who legitimately use 20+GB a month can probably be counted on your fingers.

That's not to say that vzw doesn't favor apple over google. of course they do. it's apple, and it's the best selling and most desired smartphone on the planet. obviously apple will get to call a few shots, and that's because their phone is going to bring vzw a lot of money. but in this case, very few people who legitimately use the service are going to be affected.

you're not going to suddenly experience a throttle while you check your facebook on your phone...everyone just relax

Some more VZW PR Spin Doctors , trying to calm a riot , a riot justly deserved .
We will do a tax for the War and once it is over we will drop it (1932) and today we still have that tax it is 2011 and the War spoke of is long over , the point , give them a little they will take miles and miles .
Throttling in any form on a unlimited data plan is wrong , and especially for the iPhone , isn't it just as bad as a person tethering and using loads of data ?
VZW where "unlimited" means for "iPhone users only" .
Protecting a network is one thing , but giving consumers what they pay for is another .
Treating everyone that does not have a iPhone as a stepchild when those people made VZW what it is today is WRONG , any way you slice it or spin it .
The iPhone did not make VZW the iPhone needs VZW . Jobs knew that Android was about to runaway with the market .
Sad when a brand of phone can change a network and the network did not need the phone to make it better .
My $.02

 

[LT*]

With all the changes being announced along with the Iphone release, for the first time ever, I am seriously considering jumping to another carrier when my contract is up. As a long time customer of VZ wireless, I am becoming very disappointed in the direction it's going.

 

[mr_silent]

I'm on a regional carrier network and average 12gigs a month with out tether, never been throttled and they let my bill run as much as a month late before cutting me. Glad I'm not in the lower 48. That sounds lame. Catering to iphones would probably lead to a class action lawsuit for vzw. You can't charge people for the same service and prefer not to limit one group of people because they have a different brand of phone. Tort lawyers get ready!

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums App

it's not so much catering to iphones as protecting the integrity of their network really...like i said, only those who use ridiculous amounts of data are going to be affected. yes, it's verizon who determines what the definition of "extraordinary" is, but do people really believe that it's 250MB? I mean...really?

I can understand your frustration if you're legitimately using a crapload of data and you're going to be throttled. the truth of the matter is, you are a minority in the sense that the people who legitimately use 20+GB a month can probably be counted on your fingers.

That's not to say that vzw doesn't favor apple over google. of course they do. it's apple, and it's the best selling and most desired smartphone on the planet. obviously apple will get to call a few shots, and that's because their phone is going to bring vzw a lot of money. but in this case, very few people who legitimately use the service are going to be affected.

you're not going to suddenly experience a throttle while you check your facebook on your phone...everyone just relax

Some more VZW PR Spin Doctors , trying to calm a riot , a riot justly deserved .
We will do a tax for the War and once it is over we will drop it (1932) and today we still have that tax it is 2011 and the War spoke of is long over , the point , give them a little they will take miles and miles .
Throttling in any form on a unlimited data plan is wrong , and especially for the iPhone , isn't it just as bad as a person tethering and using loads of data ?
VZW where "unlimited" means for "iPhone users only" .
Protecting a network is one thing , but giving consumers what they pay for is another .
Treating everyone that does not have a iPhone as a stepchild when those people made VZW what it is today is WRONG , any way you slice it or spin it .
The iPhone did not make VZW the iPhone needs VZW . Jobs knew that Android was about to runaway with the market .
Sad when a brand of phone can change a network and the network did not need the phone to make it better .
My $.02

Well said homie, don't see why he/she made it seem like iwas frustrated, look at my location: ANCHORAGE, ALASKA. No vzw here I'm on gci, but I have sympathy for those being screwed by the man so I wanted to leave my two bits as well. And how does one illegitimately use a "crapload" of data on an unlimited plan?
As I said previously, declare Feb-March as "operation vzw download overlord" time and take the two months throttling on the chin. Send all those iphone users crying back to ATT and watch vzw pound their heads against the wall for not supporting their customers. That's as much as I am going to post on the subject cause it doesn't concern me.

"Damn the man, save the empire!"

 

[Jaxidian]

I legitimately use ~2-10GB per month on my data plan (depending on the month but ~4-5GB is probably most common). Absolutely no torrent use on it (never, even once), and any tethering I do is for RDP from my laptop into work. Most large downloads are done on my phone directly (often ROMs, themes, or apps) or streaming legal video to watch on my phone. Isn't that the kind of thing that VZW has told us to do and advertised heavily (minus the RDP thing)? And sure, I do tether for free instead of paying for the tethering service, but that results in less than 5% of my data usage so that's not even a major factor here.

Now do I think I'm in the top 5% of all VZW data users? Absolutely! Others have already pointed out that 98% of users use under 2GB of data and I'm clearly above that - which, by definition, puts me in the top 2%. If I get noticeably throttled, I will be pissed and I guarantee that they will very willingly let me out of my contract as soon as I notice it so I can go to Sprint, AT&T, or TMobile. I shudder at all three options because I don't like any of their networks, but the VZW network begins to be equally attractive if I'm being noticeably filtered. (AT&T is probably not much of an option since 5GB is their max data plan.)

They need to either tier their bandwidth with reasonable options (50MB, 250MB, 2GB, 5GB, 20GB, 50GB sounds like good price tiers), or they need to not balk at their "unlimited" claim. Without reasonable tiering options or an unfiltered unlimited option, they will lose my business. And for the people who pull 200GB/mo abusing the system, they just need to release them from their contracts and tell those customers that they no longer wish to do business with them. That's VZW's option and something I'm sure we're all fine with. But let those who legitimately use a lot of data use it without being screwed over.

If I'm never noticeably throttled, then I'll be fine. I don't care much if they cut my >5GB usage down to 80% speed, or whatever. In fact, if they do tiered throttling, that might be even better and more acceptable, again, as long as it's reasonable and grows over the years as data needs increase (higher-resolution video over 4G, 3D video, etc.)
* >5GB = 80% speed
* >10GB = 65% speed
* >15GB = 50% speed
* >20GB = 35% speed

 

[cereal killer]

Check out gizmodo. They are already throttling speeds. AT&T is beating VZW hands down on download and upload speeds with the iPhone. Call quality is another story but with data speeds att is the clear winner.

iPhone has arrived and we all shall suffer.....

Droid--->ether--->this thread

 

[Martin030908]

I see this throttling as VZW trying to guarantee iPhone users speed... so that they won't lament the decision to leave AT&T and come to VZW.

Apple's hand is already controlling the VZW puppet.

 

[czerdrill]

I'm on a regional carrier network and average 12gigs a month with out tether, never been throttled and they let my bill run as much as a month late before cutting me. Glad I'm not in the lower 48. That sounds lame. Catering to iphones would probably lead to a class action lawsuit for vzw. You can't charge people for the same service and prefer not to limit one group of people because they have a different brand of phone. Tort lawyers get ready!

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums App

it's not so much catering to iphones as protecting the integrity of their network really...like i said, only those who use ridiculous amounts of data are going to be affected. yes, it's verizon who determines what the definition of "extraordinary" is, but do people really believe that it's 250MB? I mean...really?

I can understand your frustration if you're legitimately using a crapload of data and you're going to be throttled. the truth of the matter is, you are a minority in the sense that the people who legitimately use 20+GB a month can probably be counted on your fingers.

That's not to say that vzw doesn't favor apple over google. of course they do. it's apple, and it's the best selling and most desired smartphone on the planet. obviously apple will get to call a few shots, and that's because their phone is going to bring vzw a lot of money. but in this case, very few people who legitimately use the service are going to be affected.

you're not going to suddenly experience a throttle while you check your facebook on your phone...everyone just relax

Some more VZW PR Spin Doctors , trying to calm a riot , a riot justly deserved .
We will do a tax for the War and once it is over we will drop it (1932) and today we still have that tax it is 2011 and the War spoke of is long over , the point , give them a little they will take miles and miles .
Throttling in any form on a unlimited data plan is wrong , and especially for the iPhone , isn't it just as bad as a person tethering and using loads of data ?
VZW where "unlimited" means for "iPhone users only" .
Protecting a network is one thing , but giving consumers what they pay for is another .
Treating everyone that does not have a iPhone as a stepchild when those people made VZW what it is today is WRONG , any way you slice it or spin it .
The iPhone did not make VZW the iPhone needs VZW . Jobs knew that Android was about to runaway with the market .
Sad when a brand of phone can change a network and the network did not need the phone to make it better .
My $.02

it's kinda hard to talk sense into people who sign contracts without knowing what they're signing. when you got a smartphone plan you agreed that verizon has the right to throttle you for any reason they choose. they have chosen to exercise that clause. you can complain about it, but that's all it is...complaining.

secondly, did it say "we're only throttling non-iphone users"? you're saying iphone users will have full range of verizon and can use 50GB a month with no throttling? that iphone users pretty much own the network now and the poor android users must crawl along at throttled speeds? do you really believe that? clearly, every user, whether it's android, blackberry, ios will be throttled if they reach whatever "extraordinary" amount that vzw decides.

the article didn't say "android users beware!! ios users allowed full speeds while android is spit on and thrown to the side...now is the winter of our discontent!!"...if anyone is spinning things it's the people who can't understand what they're reading or understand the contracts that they're signing.

everyone who uses an "extraordinary" amount of data is going to be throttled, and vzw has every right, under the contract that everyone signed to do that. ignorance of your contract is not an excuse for you to think you should be given something.

like i said it sucks for the people who legitimately use 10+GB a month, but those users are few and far between, and as harsh as it sounds, verizon simply doesn't care about the handful who legitimately use that much. the revenue they'd lose if you "leave verizon to go to sprint" is laughable and not of concern to them (especially since it's mostly talk and no one is going anywhere...)