The FCC accosted Verizon recently amid the news that it was planning to slow down data speeds of those on unlimited LTE data plans during times of network congestion. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had voiced out his concern about the seemingly unfair nature of Verizon’s plan and asked the network to provide more information about their plan.
In a written response, Verizon said, “Rather than an effort to ‘enhance our revenue streams,’ our practice is a measured and fair step to ensure that this small group of customers do not disadvantage all others in the sharing of network resources during times of high demand.” Wheeler had earlier insinuated that Verizon was disadvantaging a segment of their users, quite maybe unfairly.
Verizon also pointed to links saying that AT&T and T-Mobile (here and here) were doing the exact same thing to their customers, and that the focus on them was if not entirely unfair. “I don’t think the FCC really understood what we were doing,” said Verizon Wireless Chief Executive Daniel S. Mead. The FCC have already confirmed that they have received Verizon’s reply to their inquiry and that they are “carefully reviewing” it.
We don’t know about you but there’s just something a bit wrong with Verizon’s reasoning. Why should a segment of its consumers – no matter how small – suffer from the ‘network management’ practices of Verizon, when in fact it is their infrastructure that is not able to handle the traffic? Shouldn’t the solution be to upgrade the infrastructure so that none are disadvantaged? The consumers paid for unlimited bandwith on LTE speeds, so isn’t it just right that they get exactly that? And who’s the wise guy who said that if the others are doing something inherently wrong, then anybody can do it?
VIA: Recode