Verizon Throttling Internet Speed May Effect Public In Fires
Written by 991KBU on August 23, 2018
That dispute between Verizon and the Santa Clara County fire department … over throttling of data during a fire … is making news nationally.
Firefighters are saying the wireless companies’ … playing marketing games with data rates … are examples of dangerous behavior.
The fire department … which serves Silicon Valley … isn’t happy that it’s mobile command post was turned into a useless truck during the Napa wine country fires.
Verizon slowed its Internet service to a trickle and told firefighters … in the middle of a firestorm … that they needed to upgrade to a more expensive data plan.
Verizon call this a customer service mistake … but the fire department is doubling down on behalf of the public.
The public safety experts are saying that data throttling could cause customers to effectively lose use of the Internet … if they suddenly hit data caps during fires earthquakes or other disasters.
Members of the state Assembly Communications and Conveyance Committee in Sacramento took notice of the controversy.
It breathe new life into proposed legislation … to legislation to reinstate net neutrality protections in California.
If it receives full legislative approval, Senate Bill 822 would bar internet service providers from blocking, speeding up or slowing down websites and video, as well as charging websites fees for fast lanes.
The Trump administration … acting through the FCC … has allowed cell phone companies to slow down or speed up data as they choose.
