Database Info

TIERED DATA JULY 7th

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/06/2...-verizon-july-7-packages-start-at-30-for-2gb/

zax10 said:
http://www.droid-life.com/2011/06/2...-verizon-july-7-packages-start-at-30-for-2gb/
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Data plans:
2GB – $30/month
5GB – $50/month
10GB – $80/month
God...so effing ridiculous. :/

I work for Verizon and the referenced post on Droid-life is confirmed. This is by far the most ridicolous thing I have had to deal with (well other than the 4g outages).... AT&T are you hiring???

zax10 said:
I work for Verizon and the referenced post on Droid-life is confirmed. This is by far the most ridicolous thing I have had to deal with (well other than the 4g outages).... AT&T are you hiring???
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AT&T prices are just $5 less, and they don't have LTE.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

DirgeExtinction said:
AT&T prices are just $5 less, and they don't have LTE.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
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Agreed.... To this day I don't understand the uproar. It is no different then AT&T really and they have had tiered for a yr now almost. IE VZW & AT&T have the same pricing across the board with $5 of each other. I guess my thing is everyone talks about leaving VZW over this but where are you going to go and save that much money really. T-Mobile limits full data speed after 2Gb anyways. Sprint has terrible coverage on a whole. And hell they were stupid and went WiMax so what go is that going to do you over the long haul.
And I'm not going to even go into the fact TM and AT&T scam with there claiming of 4g service

I just signed up with Verizon for a two year plan. I should receive my Droid Charge later today. Naturally, I will activate the phone the moment I get it. So, how does the new pricing rules affect me? Will I have unlimited data at $30 for the next two years, or on July 7th will I have to suffer with the crazy tier pricing?
-Greymarch
I write about technology, especially android smartphones, at my website.
http://www.greymarch.com

According to the article I read on engadget, "These new plans wouldn't affect anyone currently under contract, though it's still unknown if customers can hang onto them when it's time to renew."
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/20/verizon-tiered-data-plans-coming-july-7-starting-at-30/

I've always thought it was lame to force people into tiered data plans, regardless of the provider. This is going to place the providers in a wonderfully profitable position once we start getting applications that can truly start utilizing increased bandwidth, but it's going to cost a fortune for us to use those applications. So I understand why they're doing it, but I think it's messed up to charge that much from a user's perspective.
I think having tiered pricing for your low-need subscribers is great, so they have the option of not paying for full-on data, but having an unlimited choice for high-need subscribers is necessary to me.
$30/mth for 2GB is kind of mind-boggling to me. I got in on the unlimited for $30 plan, but I'll be none too happy when I have to switch over.

I called verizon and they said this only affects the tablets

If this causes them to ditch the MS Exchange data surcharge, then I am all for it.

greymarch said:
I just signed up with Verizon for a two year plan. I should receive my Droid Charge later today. Naturally, I will activate the phone the moment I get it. So, how does the new pricing rules affect me? Will I have unlimited data at $30 for the next two years, or on July 7th will I have to suffer with the crazy tier pricing?
-Greymarch
I write about technology, especially android smartphones, at my website.
http://www.greymarch.com
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Click to collapse
you are find as long as you do not change your current plan. As an example until a couple of weeks ago when I upgraded to my Charge I had not bought a device threw VZW since 2005. That said for the past 4 years at least I have been using a smartphone on my line with the old school unlimited vPak. Mind you this included using my D1, D2, D2g, Driod Pro, Droid X, and Napoleon on the same account/line. The key is I never bought threw VZW I just left the line/account as it and swapped my phones out.

well I am just glad I got my phone before this happened...I worry though that at some point they will make us change....I know they are reporting they wont but I feel like they will do it anyways just to make that extra money

brandonaspencer said:
I called verizon and they said this only affects the tablets
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What the hell? Really?
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

zax10 said:
I work for Verizon and the referenced post on Droid-life is confirmed. This is by far the most ridicolous thing I have had to deal with (well other than the 4g outages).... AT&T are you hiring???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me as a former employee of that company (worked there for 6 years) I left because their business practices are crud. They treat you like crud, don't care about the their employees and have very questionable ethics. Think twice about asking that question

brandonaspencer said:
I called verizon and they said this only affects the tablets
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Lol I work in a call center for Verizon Tech Support and you really cant trust much that you hear from them. I've heard reps telling customers information that is totally wrong(not on purpose) around me before. like someone telling you its just for tablets cause they probably don't even know what your talking about with tiered data coming soon and just told you about our current data plans for tablets to get you off the phone. We don't hear about stuff until you do. So you usually have just as much training as we have.

woohoo! lets hear it for being "grandfathered in" !!!!! unlimited all the way. and if they think they can make me change it and pay 80 bucks for 10gbs, im gonna put a brick through their store window with a big **** your tiered **** sticker on it mwahahahahahahaaaaaaa

Well you may be grandfathered in for unlimited data, but if you signed up after Feb 2011 Verizon reserves the right to throttle your speed once you go over a certain amount much like Tmobile does now once you go over 2gb.
I have read scattered reports of Verizon throttling back heavy uses between 5gb - 9gb, but to date I don't think they are implementing this that much until they get the 4g network a bit more stable and they implement the tiered pricing.
I would expect in a couple more months they will be enforcing throttling to a much greater extent. Below is a article from CNET explaining the change.
Verizon Wireless will begin throttling the data speeds of customers who use an "extraordinary amount" of data, according to a document posted on the company's Web site.
First reported by BGR.com, the PDF on the Verizon site says the new rules will not affect the majority of the company's customers. However, if you are a heavy data user, you should be aware that your speeds will drop.
"If you use an extraordinary amount of data and fall within the top 5 percent 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," states the document.
Verizon said it is taking the steps "to ensure that the remaining 95% of data customers aren't negatively affected by the inordinate data consumption of just a few users."
The company doesn't say how much data constitutes an "extraordinary amount," only that the new rules will affect the top 5 percent. Theoretically, that means you could be affected one month, but not the next even though you consume the same amount of data.

hrdc69 said:
Well you may be grandfathered in for unlimited data, but if you signed up after Feb 2011 Verizon reserves the right to throttle your speed once you go over a certain amount much like Tmobile does now once you go over 2gb.
I have read scattered reports of Verizon throttling back heavy uses between 5gb - 9gb, but to date I don't think they are implementing this that much until they get the 4g network a bit more stable and they implement the tiered pricing.
I would expect in a couple more months they will be enforcing throttling to a much greater extent. Below is a article from CNET explaining the change.
Verizon Wireless will begin throttling the data speeds of customers who use an "extraordinary amount" of data, according to a document posted on the company's Web site.
First reported by BGR.com, the PDF on the Verizon site says the new rules will not affect the majority of the company's customers. However, if you are a heavy data user, you should be aware that your speeds will drop.
"If you use an extraordinary amount of data and fall within the top 5 percent 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," states the document.
Verizon said it is taking the steps "to ensure that the remaining 95% of data customers aren't negatively affected by the inordinate data consumption of just a few users."
The company doesn't say how much data constitutes an "extraordinary amount," only that the new rules will affect the top 5 percent. Theoretically, that means you could be affected one month, but not the next even though you consume the same amount of data.
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Here are the numbers of how they base the choices on throttling. So unless you are using over 15Gb a month it is highly highly unlikely you'd ever get throttled.
1] 2gb+ average user
2] 7gb-15gb travel user
3] 15gb+ heavy user [monitored by vzw]
4] 20gb+ excessive user [monitored by vzw fraud]

I use 10+gb a month
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App

Tiered will kill me
I went through 1 GB yesterday using my Charge as a hotspot to run my computer playing DC Universe Online and doing my normal computer stuff all day.

[Q] AT&T new throttle policy

I'm just trying to figure out Att's new throttle policy.
Someone started the rumor that while talking to att's throttle department, they were told that it would be based on a person's last month's usage.
Each one of us was interpreting this differently. Some say you will only be throttled when you hit your last month usage. meaning if you used 30 gb then you can use up to 30 gb the following month. I thought it would be if your previous month's usage was in the top 5% then you are screwed this month. It seems counter productive for att to follow this policy. Everyone will be using as much data to have more speed the following month.
I did some research and could only find that att's policy was always to base the top 5% users on the previous month's statistics of their whole consumer base.
Can you guys confirm this? Especially for those who have been unthrottled. what is your previous months stat compared to this month?

Here
PC Mag article from today with some good information.

I don't see how they could fairly base it on how much you personally/individually used the prior month/billing period. That could be even worse for some that don't use that much data even though they have an unlimited plan, as they could conceivably get throttled at 500 MB - maybe less. And furthermore, it flies in the face of their supposed concern which is the alleged "data hogs" on the network. Plus, if that were the case, wouldn't you just stream Pandora or something every night while you sleep and eventually get your "allowed" GB limit way up after a few months?
To me, if you are going to go with the ambiguous top 5% (as opposed to a sort of soft "cap" like T-Mobile's 5 GB throttle threshhold) the only fair way to do it is to base the 5% from the previous month/billing cycle on a nationwide standard of all UNLIMITED plan users (those on tiered plans should not be used in the calculation). A nationwide standard seems more equitable than punishing or rewarding people based on where they live and establishing the 5% "for a person's region." Why should I be punished or rewarded just because I live in Dallas when compared to someone who lives in Atlanta or NY.
To me, if they are going to insist on throttling and claiming it is based on bandwidth/spectrum concerns (which it is clearly not, since I'm sure they would gladly let someone on a 3 GB tiered plan use 20 GB in a billing period and just charge them $170 more that period - and someone using 20 GB of data on a tiered plan uses the same amount of bandwidth/spectrum as someone using 20 GB on an unlimited plan), then a reasonable policy would be something like:
1) If you are unlimited, you get up to 5 GB without having your LTE speeds throttled...ever (similar to T-Mobile's policy)
2) Once you go over 5 GB in a billing period, you can be throttled to 3G speeds if you are on a congested tower, but once you are connected to a non-congested tower (whether because you are on the same tower when you got throttled, but it is no longer congested, or you changed towers because you left the house, got home, etc.) you are back to LTE speeds (similar to Verizon's policy)
No more of this ambiguous, inconsistent 5% nonsense. Put something concrete and transparent in place. And in my opinion, either #1 or #2 above would be better than what they do now.
However, I doubt they would ever put a policy in place that combined #1 and #2 above because it would likely not help achieve AT&T's goal with the throttling, which is clearly to "encourage" people to drop their unlimited plans for tiered plans so AT&T can make more money.

does anyone know the phone number to the throttle department?

AT&T’s policies are broken. First they decide to throttle the top 5% without releasing any information on what that is. Soon after we realize those using
Netflix, hulu, and slingbox were being throttled at around 2GB when others were being throttled much later (probably more closer to the real “top 5%” of the area)
Then AT&T stopped penalizing people using their phones to stream movies and tv shows and started throttling everybody at 2GB or less
Now, there are rumors of a “press release” which hasn’t been seen anywhere yet that says they will base throttling off last month’s data usage.
However things are about to change again, as a judge recently awarded a throttling customer $850 stating “it wasn't fair for the company to purposely slow down his iPhone, when it had sold him an "unlimited data" plan.”
This opens up a whole can of worms for AT&T, one they will feel. If even a fraction of those throttled gets a similar payout this would be very bad for AT&T. lets pretend 800,000x$850= $680,000,000
AT&T’s next move could quite possibly hurt the company more than any scandal it could ever imagine.
My guess is they will do less throttling and even that will be at higher levels then we have seen over the last few months, maybe around 5gb? 10gb? In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they stopped throttling all together.
Im sure after dude won his $850, at least 10’s of thousands of people have already filed small claims suits against the company already, when more of those articles come out, you will see that number jump to the hundreds of thousands.
if you haven't read about the small claims suit:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...data-throttling_n_1300212.html?ref=technology
http://www.examiner.com/technology-in-national/at-t-iphone-user-wins-data-throttling-case-850
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/att-throttling-customer/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mickeym...this-two-big-consumer-small-claims-victories/

I was "unthrottled" earlier this week....still there now.
Curious to see what happens next month
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA App

Happy someone did it. I was forced to switch to a tiered plan from my unlimited because I was being throttled at around 2gb. That lasted maybe a week and a half then my new lte skyrocket was pretty much useless data wise. I'm on the 3gb plan for the same price. I hope more people sue att.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium

00mred00 said:
I was "unthrottled" earlier this week....still there now.
Curious to see what happens next month
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA App
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How much data did you use last month?
How much this month?

I'm more curious about their throttling department, I WOULD love to talk to them, since my last throttling was around 7 gb and now I'm being threatened around 3 gb, total bull****.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium

I was warned in December at 4 1/2 gigs and then throttled in January at 2 gigs....BUT I was up in NY with LTE speeds in December but live in a non-LTE area so I think they considered me in the top 5% for where I live NOT where I was using the data. My fastest d/l speed at my house is 4mb. I think 4mb is throttled compared to people that have LTE so I think I shouldn't be throttled at all.

Oddly, AT&T continues to claim that throttling policies are in place to save spectrum, however, it would seem that the very people they try to throttle (unlimited LTE data plans) are using less "spectrum" overall than 2G and 3G users. That being said, people using rediculous amounts of data (abusive) need to be throttled...perhaps similar to Verizon's throttling which is currently a more fair approach. Here is an article about the "spectrum" crisis that could happen...
"LTE, for example, can handle roughly six to eight times the capacity of a 2G network. Some of those savings would be lost to users taking advantage of video and other high-bandwidth services available on LTE, but not so much as to use up all the increased efficiencies.
Graduated or tiered bandwidth pricing, likewise, discourages excessive network use by a few extreme customers, especially at peak times."
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57...disaster-now-for-the-hard-part/#ixzz1nT31Jb5O

scott14719 said:
Oddly, AT&T continues to claim that throttling policies are in place to save spectrum, however, it would seem that the very people they try to throttle (unlimited LTE data plans) are using less "spectrum" overall than 2G and 3G users. That being said, people using rediculous amounts of data (abusive) need to be throttled...perhaps similar to Verizon's throttling which is currently a more fair approach. Here is an article about the "spectrum" crisis that could happen...
"LTE, for example, can handle roughly six to eight times the capacity of a 2G network. Some of those savings would be lost to users taking advantage of video and other high-bandwidth services available on LTE, but not so much as to use up all the increased efficiencies.
Graduated or tiered bandwidth pricing, likewise, discourages excessive network use by a few extreme customers, especially at peak times."
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57...disaster-now-for-the-hard-part/#ixzz1nT31Jb5O
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While the tiered pricing may theoretically encourage people to use less spectrum, AT&T would happily let someone on a 3 GB tiered plan use 20 GB and change them an extra $170 that period.
The thing is that that tiered user takes up just as much spectrum to get to that 20 GB as an unlimited user who also uses 20 GB - the $10 charged for each additional GB of usage in a tiered plan does does not magically create additional spectrum. The ONLY difference is that the unlimited would essentially be paying $1.50/GB, while the tiered user would be paying $10/GB, and AT&T does not like that because they aren't making as much money as they could.
So while they can say that tiered plans encourage people to use less data (which to some extent it probably does/would) and that is a good thing because spectrum is limited, at the end of the day, the heart of the matter boils down to money...plain and simple. And AT&T wants to get people off unlimited plans, not because of a spectrum issue, but because they want to make more money.

privatewarrior1 said:
How much data did you use last month?
How much this month?
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I used 5 and was throttled last month...end total was 7
At 2 i was throttled this month. When unthrottled i was at 9. No clue what i am at now a week later but i will check
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA App

You need to report this. From what I understand it is not supposed to be throttling at that low of usage AND if you are throttled, it should only be down to 3G speeds from LTE speeds.

I wouldn't mind as much if we were just throttled to 3g speeds.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium

I wouldn't mind as much if we were just throttled to 3g speeds.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium

astang99 said:
I wouldn't mind as much if we were just throttled to 3g speeds.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
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Yup.. it's gd terrible lol, I think edge is faster than their throttled speeds.

obliv said:
Yup.. it's gd terrible lol, I think edge is faster than their throttled speeds.
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that's correct. throttle speeds are edge speeds.

00mred00 said:
I used 5 and was throttled last month...end total was 7
At 2 i was throttled this month. When unthrottled i was at 9. No clue what i am at now a week later but i will check
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA App
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I wonder if their new policy will begin next month and will be used on this month's use. I'm just debating whether I should raise my usage. I'm still below 2gigs unthrottled with some 10 days left.
btw I remember you were the one who said that this would be their new policy.
do you happen to have the throttle dpt direct #?

BTW i was thinking. should someone start a thread about the lawsuit on the att forums?

Verizon LTE Throttling confirmed via tech support

I know this may seem strange given that Verizon is not allowed to throttle the 700 MHz c block according to the FCC, but today I spoke with a lady who was a higher tier tech support (not sure if it was 2 or 3) who claimed the reason I was having data issues is because they are having system issues where people using large amounts of data are being throttled when using LTE.
She stated that normally this should only happen on 3G but confirmed she has spoke to multiple people with this issue and that it is a nationwide problem that has been effecting some people since march 23rd. This also wasn't something she spoke lightly or timid about rather she was bold and confident that was the issue I was having.
Strangely the problem seem to go away when I switched to Global mode but that could have been a coincidence and more related to network congestion on that particular tower. Has anyone else been experiencing these issues?
I'm also wondering if this is related to the LTE advanced tower upgrades they are doing but can't find any info on when or if they have upgraded the Austin, Texas area.

LOL, might be coincidence but I'm going through the same thing in MD. My post should be a few down from here but I get perfect 3G, absolutely no 4G signal. Replaced SIM card, Verizon set it up and I had 4G. Within 5 minutes after the activation, the signal went to zero, then restarted and I was at 3G again. I'm heading to Verizon store in a bit to get this taken care of.
Samutd45 said:
I know this may seem strange given that Verizon is not allowed to throttle the 700 MHz c block according to the FCC, but today I spoke with a lady who was a higher tier tech support (not sure if it was 2 or 3) who claimed the reason I was having data issues is because they are having system issues where people using large amounts of data are being throttled when using LTE.
She stated that normally this should only happen on 3G but confirmed she has spoke to multiple people with this issue and that it is a nationwide problem that has been effecting some people since march 23rd. This also wasn't something she spoke lightly or timid about rather she was bold and confident that was the issue I was having.
Strangely the problem seem to go away when I switched to Global mode but that could have been a coincidence and more related to network congestion on that particular tower. Has anyone else been experiencing these issues?
I'm also wondering if this is related to the LTE advanced tower upgrades they are doing but can't find any info on when or if they have upgraded the Austin, Texas area.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I'm doubtful that you'll be able to get much done on the store level. Your best bet is to call tech support and the first call will be long as well as tedious just humor them. The second call back they will ask if your calling about the same issue say yes. This is when you will get transferred to a higher tier or higher authority where they can actually report the issue to the field techs and then possibly get a fix in the works.
How much data do you use?
The second person told me I had used over 100gb last month but that was not a justified reason for me to be throttled on 4G, it would be if I was on 3G.

I also find it curious that we both have a s3, I did a search and couldn't find any similar posts which makes me wonder if its because we don't have the LTE advanced functionality. I wish we knew where they are upgrading the towers.

Samutd45 said:
I know this may seem strange given that Verizon is not allowed to throttle the 700 MHz c block according to the FCC, but today I spoke with a lady who was a higher tier tech support (not sure if it was 2 or 3) who claimed the reason I was having data issues is because they are having system issues where people using large amounts of data are being throttled when using LTE.
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Click to collapse
They are if you're on unlimited. The throttling isn't allowed if you're on a tiered data plan - but unlimited plans weren't covered by the FCC's ruling, IIRC.

Well...it was my sim card. Apparently the one I purchased online is an older version. They replaced it with a new sim, rebooted and I sat there waiting. After a couple of minutes, the no data signal came back so got the sales rep and signal came back, to 4G like a champ. I can't honestly tell the difference between the sim they had and the one I purchased online. She did she throttling is a possibly for next year, but no plans this year but take it for what it's worth. It was no charge for me to get the sim card and took no time.
carngeX said:
They are if you're on unlimited. The throttling isn't allowed if you're on a tiered data plan - but unlimited plans weren't covered by the FCC's ruling, IIRC.
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Click to collapse

I just wanted to confirm that this issue has been resolved by Verizon, I believe it was network issue that was fixed within one day of me calling tech support.

carngeX said:
They are if you're on unlimited. The throttling isn't allowed if you're on a tiered data plan - but unlimited plans weren't covered by the FCC's ruling, IIRC.
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Click to collapse
There is no real distinction from the FCC of tiered vs unlimited. The only possible reason verizon could is by using the excuse of trying to protect vulnerabilities on their network.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/1...-does-not-violate-fcc-block-c-spectrum-rules/

Samutd45 said:
There is no real distinction from the FCC of tiered vs unlimited. The only possible reason verizon could is by using the excuse of trying to protect vulnerabilities on their network.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/1...-does-not-violate-fcc-block-c-spectrum-rules/
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Click to collapse
It's saying it can't restrict (throttle) users who pay for the service. Tether wasn't included in Unlimited data plans (it was a separate plan on plans when Unlimited was around). Tethering is included in tiered data, therefore they cannot throttle users tethering on the tiered data plans.

carngeX said:
It's saying it can't restrict (throttle) users who pay for the service. Tether wasn't included in Unlimited data plans (it was a separate plan on plans when Unlimited was around). Tethering is included in tiered data, therefore they cannot throttle users tethering on the tiered data plans.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
carngeX said:
It's saying it can't restrict (throttle) users who pay for the service. Tether wasn't included in Unlimited data plans (it was a separate plan on plans when Unlimited was around). Tethering is included in tiered data, therefore they cannot throttle users tethering on the tiered data plans.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my experience I have specifically found this to be untrue but I could certainly see how one would interpret it that way. There really is no one true answer to this question but I will say the higher tier tech confirmed on the phone with me that it was perfectly within my right to have 100 gb or more per month of unthrottled 4g lte use. They don't track whether you are tethering or not...can they? They certainly can especially if you use the my verizon app as they are able to see certain diagnostics and also they can see specifically which applications are running on your phone. The tech actually told me I was running an excessive amount of apps which was true at the time and she specifically told me which apps were running. This proves the point that they know I'm tethering without paying the $20 per month service charge, they are not charging me for it.
I think your misunderstanding is that you are incorrectly correlating tethering to throttling as these two things appear to be mutually exclusive. In other words verizon doesn't really treat you differently if you are on tiered vs non tiered as far as throttling goes.
Please read the following portion taken from the referenced article on android police, it's at the very bottom:
"Finally, we'll talk about tethering and Block C.
Much hoop-lah has been made of the following provision, as related to the legality of charging for wireless tethering on Verizon:
(c)(1)... The potential for excessive bandwidth demand alone shall not constitute grounds for denying, limiting or restricting access to the network. 47 CFR §27.16
The key issue is that this provision says nothing about limiting access on the basis of contractual obligations - it only applies when a carrier is limiting, restricting, or denying access to data services it has promised on the basis that a user is "congesting" the network. Verizon is still very much within its right to assert that it has the authority to prevent users from stealing access to a service it charges for, namely, tethering. Opponents say this is traffic discrimination and money-grabbing, Verizon says it's a perfectly legitimate usage-based access fee that it doesn't want users to circumvent.
There is absolutely nothing in the text of 27.16 suggesting carriers must provide unlimited data to users on networks operated on the 700MHz Block C frequencies. All (c)(1) is saying is that, once users have paid for a given service, carriers cannot discriminate against their traffic on the basis of bandwidth usage (eg, they can't throttle you) - but there's nothing to stop them from charging your more for using more. This is why Verizon's throttling only affects the top 5% of 3G, rather than 4G, users. I'm not sure if I explained that clearly, so I hope the distinction got across.
Of course, in matters involving regulatory authority, there's always going to be some wiggle room for discretion.
The FCC is unpredictable. There is no way to know if the agency will change its interpretation of its own rules, or if it will decide Verizon's particular actions aren't reasonable. This is all evaluated on a case by case basis. However, the agency's interpretation of reasonable network management in the past has tended to favor service providers in all but the most extreme cases (such as content-based throttling by Comcast), so it's hard for me to see them suddenly adopting a more demanding standard in regard to "reasonable network management.""

Can confirm this, grandfathered in unlimited. I use around 180gb a month. They hate me and any day that I am downloading continuously for more than 1 hour or sometimes less, I immediately start getting throttled. I know this because I have friends right beside me who have verizon and they will be pulling down 10-15mbps around 20ms and I will be getting .7-2 mbps. As soon as I take a small break from downloading (usually an hour) my speeds resume as normal. It is total BS that I pay for unlimited LTE and they claim they don't throttle. And anytime I call them to complain, magically my speeds go back after they tell me to try "rebooting my phone".
EDIT: I'm from the Canton, OH region and this happened frequently. I recently moved to the Tampa Bay area and have not had a problem. I suspect the network isn't as congested (although technically does LTE have bandwidth limitations? I read in an article that It should not). Also Florida happens to be flatter than Ohio, so they have less towers I'm assuming that cover a greater area with stronger coverage.

From the snippet you just posted:
There is absolutely nothing in the text of 27.16 suggesting carriers must provide unlimited data to users on networks operated on the 700MHz Block C frequencies. All (c)(1) is saying is that, once users have paid for a given service, carriers cannot discriminate against their traffic on the basis of bandwidth usage (eg, they can't throttle you) - but there's nothing to stop them from charging your more for using more. This is why Verizon's throttling only affects the top 5% of 3G, rather than 4G, users. I'm not sure if I explained that clearly, so I hope the distinction got across.
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Which backs up what I was saying. If you're on a grandfathered in unlimited plan... they have the legal right to throttle you because you're not paying for the tethering service, because it was not included in their non-tier plans. Will they? Most likely not unless you're using tons and tons of data - it's all up to VZW if they decide to start throttling or not. Although I've seen people in the Rezound forums post data usage screenshots, and some people have upwards around 1TB of data usage in a month, and nothing ever was done to them or their service.

carngeX said:
From the snippet you just posted:
Which backs up what I was saying. If you're on a grandfathered in unlimited plan... they have the legal right to throttle you because you're not paying for the tethering service, because it was not included in their non-tier plans. Will they? Most likely not unless you're using tons and tons of data - it's all up to VZW if they decide to start throttling or not. Although I've seen people in the Rezound forums post data usage screenshots, and some people have upwards around 1TB of data usage in a month, and nothing ever was done to them or their service.
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How do they know if you are tethering or not? Can they see that? Is high data usage synonymous with tethering in their minds?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

ErikFry said:
How do they know if you are tethering or not? Can they see that? Is high data usage synonymous with tethering in their minds?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
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Well ask yourself how do websites know you are on a mobile device. yes verizon knows you are tethering unless you use a tether app that hides it or if you use a vpn (highly recomended). I have used 300 gigabytes of data a few months ago without being throttled so it all depends on how well you cover your tracks.
---------- Post added at 04:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:50 PM ----------
I usually use between 2 - 5 so I am not a repeat offender. That might be why I have never been throttled.

ThePagel said:
Well ask yourself how do websites know you are on a mobile device. yes verizon knows you are tethering unless you use a tether app that hides it or if you use a vpn (highly recomended). I have used 300 gigabytes of data a few months ago without being throttled so it all depends on how well you cover your tracks.
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I see, I use the built in AOSP hotspot toggle. What could I use to hide the connection automagically every time I toggle it on? Thank you for your advice.

ErikFry said:
I see, I use the built in AOSP hotspot toggle. What could I use to hide the connection automagically every time I toggle it on? Thank you for your advice.
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I'm not sure if there is a solution for WiFi tether. I know USB tether apps can. Your best bet for WiFi tether is a cheap or free VPN.

Verizon Wireless Throttling Unlimited Data Customers Q & A Discussion Thread

Today Oct 1st 2014 Verizon Wireless begins throttling their Unlimited Data Customers Read Verizon's "Network Optimization Practices for Customers with Unlimited Data Plans"
For those who have Unlimited Data on the Verizon network, please post any throttling issues that you have noticed starting today.
***A Few thoughts to chew on ***
Many people I know have been able to download well over 100 GB each month. I think it will be important to stress test how much you can download since Verizon started throttling their Unlimited Data Customers. Why you might ask should some stress test this? Well let's say in a hypothetical situation Verizon throttles your typical speed of 40Mbps to 10Mbs, and let's say perhaps Verizon throttles you even more then that. Well if significant throttling is done, you will not be able to achieve 100 GB a month, you might only be able to download (Again hypothetically speaking depending on how much throttling is done) -you might only be able to download 50 GB a month because you can't download any faster. Therefor not only is your download speed throttled but in fact you really don't have "Unlimited Data" anymore.
I'm hoping we can get some good feedback from the XDA Verizon community on their experience with the new Throttling. Hopefully the - Tom Wheeler the FCC's Chairman will soon put Verizon in their place on this issue. Because throttling should be the same for everyone and should be done in real time, treat everyone the same (except for emergency etc.. personnel, adjust network traffic for everyone as needed. Or offer Unlimited Data Customers incentives for conserving data.
**Some Additional Questions to ask and Issues to address***
We are asking a lot of questions, because you can't trust gov & big corporations these days to be honest
***What is the nature of the throttling algorithm in place?
***What specifically is the parameters of this throttling that we can best determine?
***How is your network network priority status effective by the throttling?
***What throttling exemptions are there? (Such as Government, Military etc.. Does a simple Military discount exempt you from being throttled?
***Is the throttling done based on your sim card's ICCID number or your phone's IMEI number?
***Does changing sim cards, or phones, reset your throttling?
***How long are you typically being throttled for once throttled
***What are the typical times and places that you are being throttled
***Can we get some clarity on how long your throttled for? (There seems to be some conflicting answers about this, if you are a repeated offender it appears you could be throttled into the next billing cycle.)
***What exactly are the determining factors that will get you throttled (I know some of the media have layed this out [see below], but let's test it, do these factors really hold true? Could you fall under Verizon's Throttling Gantlet for qualifying for just one of these factors, or do you really have to qualify for every factor.
This is how you qualify for Network Optimization:
Top 5% of data users (you use 4.7GB of data per month or more)
Enrolled on an unlimited data plan or feature
Have fulfilled your minimum contract term
Are attempting to use data on a cell site that is experiencing high demand
Suggestions to respond or answer...
I know I posted a lot in this article. To make these easier if you are replying to just on answer perhaps just quote the line or question instead of the entire post, but do what you choose.
Hope to get some good discussion going about this.

No need to discuss. Verizon decided to opt out of it last minute. So happy about this.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using XDA Free mobile app

Verizon Not Going To Throttle Unlimited 4G Afterall

Verizon backs off plans to throttle unlimited data users:
http://www.cnet.com/news/verizon-backs-off-on-plans-to-throttle-unlimited-data-users/
Awesome news.

Sweet victory! Perhaps the FCC finally did its job?
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

Honestly I think it may have been a good idea, after all why should data hogs get to slow everyone else's speeds down ? If someone is using a ridiculous amount of data why should everyone else have to suffer for it ?

Roefastford said:
Honestly I think it may have been a good idea, after all why should data hogs get to slow everyone else's speeds down ? If someone is using a ridiculous amount of data why should everyone else have to suffer for it ?
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Or maybe, since some customers are entitled to unlimited data, Verizon should keep their infrastructure updated and upgraded to handle the demand rather than blame someone for using a service they're paying for.

dante020 said:
Or maybe, since some customers are entitled to unlimited data, Verizon should keep their infrastructure updated and upgraded to handle the demand rather than blame someone for using a service they're paying for.
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I"am talking about the real data hogs the ones that stream videos all day long. With all their customers it would be nearly impossible to be able update that much to where the data hogs dont affect all the others using data, they can only do so much its not like they can just pull those kind of updates out of there arse.
I"am talking realistically that is why verizons data is slower than at&t's because verizons is already congested enough then add on data hogs and everyone else feels the effects of the over users, which its the ones that brag about how much data they use like they are proud of it and try to use as much as they can and have no reguard for anyone but themselves.

Roefastford said:
I"am talking about the real data hogs the ones that stream videos all day long. With all their customers it would be nearly impossible to be able update that much to where the data hogs dont affect all the others using data, they can only do so much its not like they can just pull those kind of updates out of there arse.
I"am talking realistically that is why verizons data is slower than at&t's because verizons is already congested enough then add on data hogs and everyone else feels the effects of the over users, which its the ones that brag about how much data they use like they are proud of it and try to use as much as they can and have no reguard for anyone but themselves.
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Streaming videos all day long should be an acceptable use of unlimited data. The real problem is people torrenting and tethering and racking up 100+GB/mo. Even then, those people are a vast minority and I doubt they have a realistic effect when looking at the big picture.

Roefastford said:
I"am talking about the real data hogs the ones that stream videos all day long.
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Well, the problem with that is, from what I've read Verizon has said the top so called 5 percent (of "data hogs") supposedly is those that use 4 GBs and up. I find it hard to believe that 4 gigs makes the top 5 percent. I'm one who still has unlimited data. I use anywhere from 4 GB's to 6 GB's of data a month. Something that isn't hard to do. If I happen to use 5 GB's, or even 10, I'd like to know how my 5 congest the network anymore than somebody who's on a 10 gig plan and uses 5 in that same month does.
To me, it's obvious this was nothing more than a ploy to try to force those that still have unlimited data to get off it. Personally I wouldn't have a problem with it if they'd do the same with everyone. But to just single somebody like me out when the guy who has a 10 gig plan uses more than I do is, well, like I said, it's obvious what it is.
It seems to me if they want to get rid of the unlimited data users they should just eliminate the plan. Can't quite figure out why they don't do that. Nobody who has unlimited has a contract with them anymore so I can't see any legal type reason. Perhaps there are more of us left out there than I think and they are worried that it would cause too many customers to jump and run. So, instead, try to squeeze them out slowly and eventually when there isn't enough of them left to worry about, eliminate the plan all together.
Can anybody tell me how my 4-6 GBs a month congests the network anymore than the guy who has a 10 GB plan and uses the same does? I didn't think so.

dante020 said:
Streaming videos all day long should be an acceptable use of unlimited data. The real problem is people torrenting and tethering and racking up 100+GB/mo. Even then, those people are a vast minority and I doubt they have a realistic effect when looking at the big picture.
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I think they should be cut to at least half speed when they go over 5 gb's that is fairly reasonable. I think they slow things down more than people realize, you have to take in to account how congested a lot of towers can be in populated areas and they are infringing upon the rights of others, Why should they be able to slow everyone else down ?

Roefastford said:
I think they should be cut to at least half speed when they go over 5 gb's that is fairly reasonable. I think they slow things down more than people realize, you have to take in to account how congested a lot of towers can be in populated areas and they are infringing upon the rights of others, Why should they be able to slow everyone else down ?
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I think you're missing the point - if you're sold an "unlimited" service it should be unlimited. It's fully Verizon's responsibility to provide the infrastructure that can support the service they sold. If they can't support said service then they shouldn't have it as an option.

robocuff said:
Well, the problem with that is, from what I've read Verizon has said the top so called 5 percent (of "data hogs") supposedly is those that use 4 GBs and up. I find it hard to believe that 4 gigs makes the top 5 percent. I'm one who still has unlimited data. I use anywhere from 4 GB's to 6 GB's of data a month. Something that isn't hard to do. If I happen to use 5 GB's, or even 10, I'd like to know how my 5 congest the network anymore than somebody who's on a 10 gig plan and uses 5 in that same month does.
To me, it's obvious this was nothing more than a ploy to try to force those that still have unlimited data to get off it. Personally I wouldn't have a problem with it if they'd do the same with everyone. But to just single somebody like me out when the guy who has a 10 gig plan uses more than I do is, well, like I said, it's obvious what it is.
It seems to me if they want to get rid of the unlimited data users they should just eliminate the plan. Can't quite figure out why they don't do that. Nobody who has unlimited has a contract with them anymore so I can't see any legal type reason. Perhaps there are more of us left out there than I think and they are worried that it would cause too many customers to jump and run. So, instead, try to squeeze them out slowly and eventually when there isn't enough of them left to worry about, eliminate the plan all together.
Can anybody tell me how my 4-6 GBs a month congests the network anymore than the guy who has a 10 GB plan and uses the same does? I didn't think so.
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I"am not talking about total data per say I"am talking about data hogs that slow down others in populated areas, if the data speed is there then I think it shouldn't matter but when they are infringing upon the rights of others by slowing them down because they are being a " Data Hog " then they should be cut to half speed.
I"am not saying cut them to 3g speed but cut them to half the lte speed if they are affecting the use of others speed wise.

robocuff said:
It seems to me if they want to get rid of the unlimited data users they should just eliminate the plan. Can't quite figure out why they don't do that. Nobody who has unlimited has a contract with them anymore so I can't see any legal type reason. Perhaps there are more of us left out there than I think and they are worried that it would cause too many customers to jump and run. So, instead, try to squeeze them out slowly and eventually when there isn't enough of them left to worry about, eliminate the plan all together.
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There are actually people out there with unlimited contracts. In fact, I renewed my contract several months ago and kept my unlimited data. There are still ways around it.
Roefastford said:
I"am not talking about total data per say I"am talking about data hogs that slow down others in populated areas, if the data speed is there then I think it shouldn't matter but when they are infringing upon the rights of others by slowing them down because they are being a " Data Hog " then they should be cut to half speed.
I"am not saying cut them to 3g speed but cut them to half the lte speed if they are affecting the use of others speed wise.
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The only fair solution here is to throttle everyone equally. As stated by robocuff, throttling unlimited plans is just a ploy to get people to move over to metered plans.

dante020 said:
I think you're missing the point - if you're sold an "unlimited" service it should be unlimited. It's fully Verizon's responsibility to provide the infrastructure that can support the service they sold. If they can't support said service then they shouldn't have it as an option.
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Cellular providers have a different definition of unlimited, most providers have a 2 to 3 gb limit even on unlimited plans. I think sprint capped theirs at 5 gb's at some point not sure anymore. They have to limit or you have people using their cell data plan for their home internet and use 100 gb's or more tethering to computers.
I"am not talking about saving them money what I"am talking about is how these abusers affect the other data users why should the normal user be affected by these data hogs, how is that fair to the average user ?
They should be slowed to 1/2 lte speed if they are affecting others as they have no right to abuse and affect everyone else.
---------- Post added at 09:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:56 AM ----------
dante020 said:
There are actually people out there with unlimited contracts. In fact, I renewed my contract several months ago and kept my unlimited data. There are still ways around it.
The only fair solution here is to throttle everyone equally. As stated by robocuff, throttling unlimited plans is just a ploy to get people to move over to metered plans.
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If they hog the data then they should be slowed down, that would not be fair to the average user. Why should data hogs be allowed to put their needs over everyone else ?

Roefastford said:
Cellular providers have a different definition of unlimited, most providers have a 2 to 3 gb limit even on unlimited plans. I think sprint capped theirs at 5 gb's at some point not sure anymore. They have to limit or you have people using their cell data plan for their home internet and use 100 gb's or more tethering to computers.
I"am not talking about saving them money what I"am talking about is how these abusers affect the other data users why should the normal user be affected by these data hogs, how is that fair to the average user ?
They should be slowed to 1/2 lte speed if they are affecting others as they have no right to abuse and affect everyone else.
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The solution is for Verzon to upgrade their infrastructure or stop offering unlimited plans. Aside from that, I think we should agree to disagree since this is going in circles.

dante020 said:
The solution is for Verzon to upgrade their infrastructure or stop offering unlimited plans. Aside from that, I think we should agree to disagree since this is going in circles.
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It all boils down to fairness abusers should not be able to affect the use of others.

Roefastford said:
I"am not talking about total data per say I"am talking about data hogs that slow down others in populated areas, if the data speed is there then I think it shouldn't matter but when they are infringing upon the rights of others by slowing them down because they are being a " Data Hog " then they should be cut to half speed.
I"am not saying cut them to 3g speed but cut them to half the lte speed if they are affecting the use of others speed wise.
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I understand that but the problem with it is Verizon isn't talking about just those that you're talking about. They're including those that may use less data than somebody on a tiered plan. I fail to see how that can be optimizing anything when they allow others to use more and not throttle them too.

robocuff said:
I understand that but the problem with it is Verizon isn't talking about just those that you're talking about. They're including those that may use less data than somebody on a tiered plan. I fail to see how that can be optimizing anything when they allow others to use more and not throttle them too.
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Yeah maybe they should just throttle anyone to half lte speed after they use so much data in one day, such as limit each one line to a data limit of 1 gb then over 1 gb in a day and lte speeds go to 1/2 speed of the others that used less than 1 gb.
That would be extremely reasonable and fair and would slow down the hogs using 100 gb's and such so even on unlimited they could still get up to 30 gb's in a 30 day period all at full speed and anything over the 1 gb per day goes to 1/2 the lte speed of others.

Roefastford said:
If they hog the data then they should be slowed down, that would not be fair to the average user. Why should data hogs be allowed to put their needs over everyone else ?
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One more response and then I'm done. Data isn't a limited resource, although bandwidth sometimes is. Consider the case where someone with an unlimited plan uses 5GB of data on an uncongested tower and affects nobody. Then, they move to a different and congested tower. Is it fair that, according to you, they should be throttled simply because they have "unlimited" data and already used their allowance of unthrottled data? Keep in mind that Verizon has no problem letting a limited plan run as fast as possible. In fact, if a limited plan passes its limit, service isn't interrupted - the account is charged and data keeps on flowing. It is beneficial for Verizon to keep all limited plans running at full speed so that they can maximize revenue.
Bottom line is, this is just a money-making ploy. You can still be a "data hog" with a limited plan so long as you keep your wallet open so your argument of "fairness" isn't valid.

dante020 said:
One more response and then I'm done. Data isn't a limited resource, although bandwidth sometimes is. Consider the case where someone with an unlimited plan uses 5GB of data on an uncongested tower and affects nobody. Then, they move to a different and congested tower. Is it fair that, according to you, they should be throttled simply because they have "unlimited" data and already used their allowance of unthrottled data? Keep in mind that Verizon has no problem letting a limited plan run as fast as possible. In fact, if a limited plan passes its limit, service isn't interrupted - the account is charged and data keeps on flowing. It is beneficial for Verizon to keep all limited plans running at full speed so that they can maximize revenue.
Bottom line is, this is just a money-making ploy. You can still be a "data hog" with a limited plan so long as you keep your wallet open so your argument of "fairness" isn't valid.
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They should just throttle anyone to half lte speed after they use so much data in one day, such as limit each one line to a data limit of 1 gb then over 1 gb in a day and lte speeds go to 1/2 speed of the others that used less than 1 gb.
That would be extremely reasonable and fair and would slow down the hogs using 100 gb's and such so even on unlimited they could still get up to 30 gb's in a 30 day period all at full speed and anything over the 1 gb per day goes to 1/2 the lte speed of others.

robocuff said:
Well, the problem with that is, from what I've read Verizon has said the top so called 5 percent (of "data hogs") supposedly is those that use 4 GBs and up. I find it hard to believe that 4 gigs makes the top 5 percent. I'm one who still has unlimited data. I use anywhere from 4 GB's to 6 GB's of data a month. Something that isn't hard to do. If I happen to use 5 GB's, or even 10, I'd like to know how my 5 congest the network anymore than somebody who's on a 10 gig plan and uses 5 in that same month does.
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This right here. The only instance where 4.6 gigs is the "top 5 percent" is when you factor in ALL data plans, including the cheap ones. I'll bet you any money that's how they arrived at that number.
It should've been the top 5 percent of unlimited data users only.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

Div033 said:
This right here. The only instance where 4.6 gigs is the "top 5 percent" is when you factor in ALL data plans, including the cheap ones. I'll bet you any money that's how they arrived at that number.
It should've been the top 5 percent of unlimited data users only.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk
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My thoughts exactly. I'd be willing to bet they're including those who aren't using smart phones. So called dumb phones. They use data too.