Internet or Bandwidth throttling by Verizon

Internet or Bandwidth throttling is the slowing or speeding of a user's internet service that is provided by the internet company. The slowing of internet service is done to reduce the usage of service supplied to the local network. Verizon's throttling and the lawsuit against it became the news's highlights in 2018 during the California wildfire when the said company tried to slow down internet usage by the fire department (Brodkin, 2018). This throttling was impeding the ability to respond to such a huge crisis, and there was lateness in providing emergency services. The image of fire departments became suspicious in public, and there was national condemnation. The reason behind this massive damage was throttling by Verizon.
It was declared by the county's Fire Chief, Anthony Bowden, that the internet has become an essential tool in our daily lives and in such a nationwide emergency, where the arrangement of a huge number of fire vehicles, aircraft, and bulldozers is needed, the internet plays a crucial role. The Chief also mentioned that the fire department had paid Verizon for an unlimited data service, whereas Verizon still throttled their network. The fire department had to pay more for lifting this restriction and once again become able to freely use the internet. The Chief stated he had a record of emails between the fire department and Verizon.
During the fire emergency in California, the fire department noticed that the data was being slow, and the data rates were reduced. The department's functioning was severely harmed due to this shrink in internet speed (Carman, 2018). The information technology staff promptly sent an email to Verizon to deter the throttling so that the department could perform operations smoothly, to which Verizon did not respond in the form of lifting throttling restrictions. The internet speed was not restored to the devices, and the fire department was still unable to connect to important help departments for fire prevention.
Instead, Verizon recommended that the fire department buy a new internet package twice as expensive. Verizon did not terminate throttling despite the fire department's subscription to an unlimited data package. The fire section that handled billing and other related plans had to subscribe to a new plan timely since the fire had to be ceased as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, when the new subscription was being initiated, the fire department personnel had to use their means to contact the important departments.
The Fire Chief discussed that this throttling also affected previous fires faced in December and June. Verizon was risking public safety just for their benefits and profits. Also, it was expected in the future that Verizon would keep taking advantage of such emergencies to offer more costly plans.
After the Fire Chief's statements were made public, Verizon took notice of this matter and admitted that the mistake was committed by stopping the fire department from using internet service. Verizon responded by saying that the company removes data restrictions in the time of emergencies when asked by emergency departments. The company had practiced the same many times before, even in critical times like this, when the customer or any relevant crisis department had reached. The restriction had been dismissed. However, this time, Verizon had assumed it might have been a customer support problem, and the issue might be resolved as soon as possible.
Verizon also noticed that throttling was imposed when the fire department reached a certain data usage limit. Yet, Verizon admitted that offering a new plan with new expensive charges was a fault (Stevens, 2018). The communication between the fire department and the customer support was not an accurate way of handling contingencies, for which Verizon would look into the matter.
When Verizon's emails were highlighted, clearly indicating that throttling had been observed and that net neutrality rules were deployed, the throttling was still experienced even in unlimited packages when the user reached a certain data limit. The company said it is under network management regulations that the internet service provider can throttle service when congestion during a certain time of the day was encountered.
I think public safety should be a priority for any public or private firm within the state, especially when it is an emergency. It becomes a special responsibility for every citizen and every institute to provide any services under their domain so that animals and humans could be protected. Many wireless networks and IPNs throttle data once the internet user reaches a certain data limit. The number of downloads allowed becomes limited, and even their speed of downloading is affected. The reason is to control internet usage so that other users could enjoy the same speed, and their connectivity is not affected by one user's huge data usage and congestion. Nevertheless, offering a new expensive internet package when the user has already subscribed to an unlimited one is unfair.
Our department used Verizon as our ISP for the past few months and was informed of the First Net program. Verizon ensured that it explained the program thoroughly and how it would benefit the department. From that time, we have not experienced any throttling problem from Verizon. From experience mentioned above, Verizon has become vigilant enough so that no similar incident occurs in the future, especially in critical times. Verizon has improved its customer support for the provision of better and prompt internet services to its users.


References
Brodkin, J. (2018, August 22). Verizon throttled fire department's "unlimited" data during Calif. Wildfire. ARS Technica. Retrieved from https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/08/verizon-throttled-fire-departments-unlimited-data-during-calif-wildfire/
Carman, A. (2018, August 24). Verizon says it will stop throttling emergency responders' data speeds. The Verge. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/24/17778834/verizon-throttle-data-emergency-fire-response
Stevens, M. (2018, August 22). Verizon throttled California firefighters' internet speeds amid blaze (they were out of data). The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/22/us/verizon-throttling-california-fire-net-neutrality.html