Verizon throttled 'unlimited' data of Calif. fire department during Mendocino wildfire

Authored by usatoday.com and submitted by Arcayon
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Firefighters with Cal Fire Mendocino Unit protect themselves from smoke and ash created by an advancing wildfire on July 30, 2018, in Lakeport, Calif. (Photo: MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ, AP)

SAN FRANCISCO – As wildfires burned over a million acres in California this summer, one San Francisco Bay Area fire department used its cellphone network to coordinate trucks and personnel from all over the state – until the department reached its data limit and its service provider slowed down data speeds.

This week, in documents submitted as evidence in a lawsuit over the Federal Communications Commission's repeal of net neutrality rules, Santa Clara County Fire Chief Tony Bowden detailed how Verizon's rules over what happens when customers go over the data limits on its plans disrupted devices essential to his department for coordination of firefighting resources.

Bowden said in the declaration, first reported by "Ars Technica," that the Santa Clara County Fire Department had an unlimited data plan with Verizon but internet service slowed to 1/200th normal speed after the SCCFD reached 25 gigabytes of data usage.

Verizon refused to lift the restrictions on data speeds until the fire department upgraded to a more expensive service plan, Bowden said.

Slowing down data speeds after a customer reaches its monthly data limit is a common practice among internet service providers and cellular carriers that's known as throttling. Users can still access the cellular network for basic services like email or web browsing, but speeds are often too slow for activities like video streaming.

More: Mendocino Complex Fire, the largest ever in California, is still growing

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During a fire, the SCCFD deploys a vehicle called OES Incident Support Unit 5262, which uses "5-10 gigabytes of data per day via the Internet using a mobile router and wireless connection" to route resources where they're needed.

"The internet has become an essential tool in providing fire and emergency response, particularly for events like large fires, which require the rapid deployment and organization of thousands of personnel and hundreds of fire engines, aircraft and bulldozers," Bowden wrote.

Bill Murphy, fire captain and public information officer at SCCFD, said firefighters use "what seem like routine internet tools – email and live docs" to communicate resource status and resource commitments among the many different organizations involved in fighting the Mendocino Complex Fire and other large wildfires plaguing California.

These tools were rendered useless to the SCCFD while data was being throttled. The department was forced to use other agencies' internet service providers, and some personnel had to use their personal devices for connectivity, Bowden said.

Verizon continued to throttle data after SCCFD officials informed a company representative that the slowdown was impeding the fire department's ability to provide emergency response.

Emails included in the declaration show SCCFD staff communicating the issue with Verizon representatives starting June 29 and ending a month later.

The slowing stopped after the fire department paid Verizon for more data.

Bowden's declaration was filed as an addendum to a brief from 22 state attorneys general in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of net neutrality rules.

The brief asserts that when the FCC struck down net neutrality rules, it failed to consider the public's need to access a free and open internet for government services.

"As with many private-sector services, large portions of critical infrastructure used by governments and utilities have moved to the Internet," the brief says. "Consumers' access to the open Internet is essential to the effective provision of these online services."

When Verizon slowed down the SCCFD's data speeds, it was evidence that, under new regulations post-net neutrality, internet service providers would prioritize their economic interests, "even in situations that implicate public safety," the petitioners in the lawsuit claim.

Verizon spokesperson Heidi Flato said in a statement to USA TODAY that the issue is not related to net neutrality court proceedings. Verizon has a practice for removing data restrictions during emergency situations, but this case was a customer service error, Flato said.

"In this situation, we should have lifted the speed restriction when our customer reached out to us. This was a customer support mistake," the statement said.

Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics, said Verizon should've realized the fire department was on the wrong plan and upped the department's data during the wildfires.

But, he says, the change in rules did not give Verizon more leeway to slow down individual customers' access. Verizon has always been able to slow down an individual consumer's data – because giving everyone unlimited data just isn't feasible.

The word unlimited has lost it's meaning, Entner said. It's "turned from a word that has value and meaning to an empty shell."

More: How to tell if net neutrality repeal is why your Internet is slower

More: Net neutrality fight continues for state AGs, other supporters of Obama-era rules

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hurtsdonut_ on August 22nd, 2018 at 16:53 UTC »

I like how Verizon has two different unlimited plans. Apparently there are two different definitions of what unlimited is and neither of them is actually the definition of unlimited.

AGNReixis on August 22nd, 2018 at 16:39 UTC »

This is a joke. I cant believe verizon can pull this crap. This isnt the first time theyve done something mildly egregious and apologized it away. This time, lives could be at stake. They already get special treatment from the FCC because of the channel block they own the rights for. They have shown on numerous occasions to promote extremely anti-consumer behaviors. Its bad enough that we live in a world where a company can say something, then throw caveats on there that take away from the meaning of the word.

Unlimited isnt unlimited if youre throttling them, is it?

FattyCorpuscle on August 22nd, 2018 at 16:38 UTC »

Bowden said in the declaration, first reported by "Ars Technica", that the Santa Clara County Fire Department had an unlimited data plan with Verizon but internet service slowed to 1/200th normal speed after the SCCFD reached 25 gigabytes of data usage.

Verizon refused to lift the restrictions on data speeds until the fire department upgraded to a more expensive service plan, Bowden said

Bolded because fuck Verizon with a giant burnt Sequoia. The original throttling could have been a correctable mistake. The fact that they doubled down though? Verizon gonna Verizon.

**edit And another thing, why the fuck does any fire department have to dick around with data plans at all? They're emergency services. Verizon and other carriers have the government in their pockets. The least they could be required to do would be to provide unlimited, no questions asked access to any emergency services. No fucking data plans necessary.