The carrier targeted customers with unlimited data plans, ended practice in June
Much was made of Verizon Wireless’ plan (which wasn’t put into practice) to throttle data speeds for 4G LTE customers with unlimited data plans. Perhaps not as widely publicized is Verizon Wireless’ practice of throttling 3G customers with unlimited data plans – that practice was stopped in June, according to the company.
This is all wrapped up into Verizon’s “video optimization” program, which is geared toward “network management” and “is designed to transmit data more efficiently, ease capacity burdens on the network, primarily from video files, and improve the user experience with faster downloads and decreased Internet latency.”
The abandoned 4G LTE plan was based on the 3G plan. Essentially, the top 5% of data users with unlimited plans “may experience managed data speeds when connected to a cell site experiencing high demand after reaching certain data-usage levels in a billing cycle. These high data users will feel the smallest possible impact and only experience reduced data speeds when necessary for us to optimize data network traffic in that area.”
The management practices relative to 3G started in 2011 and ended two months ago.
From the company: “Beginning in 2011, to optimize our network, we managed data connection speeds for a small subset of customers – those who are in the top 5% of data users and have 3G devices on unlimited data plans – and only in places and at times when the network was experiencing high demand. We discontinued this practice in June, 2015.”
Verizon Wireless stopped offering unlimited data services in mid-2011, instead offering customers data buckets. Customers who were already signed up for $30 per month, unlimited services were allowed to keep those plans, but new subscribers were limited to capped packages. The one caveat for those looking to keep their unlimited plans was that they could not take advantage of any device subsidy offerings or they would lose the unlimited data.
