Who here is a victim of this prctice? I have a very old long standing 3G unlimited plan and have been told by 2 diffrent Verizon Tech support people that I am in fact being Optimized due to being the top 5% user on my cell site. I call BS. I was told the only way around Optimization is to buy a 4G device, my response was why? You dont offer unlimited plan with 4G and I dont have 4G coverage here in the area. All a ploy to force you off the 3G unlimited plans. I find it funny that during times when i used other forms of connectivity and still paid the 60 for my unlimited plan per month that some months never got pluged in or used that I did not get credit for not usuing my unlimited service but get dinged early in month casue i reached some imaginary thershold that reperesents top 5% on my local tower? My average usage on 3G is about 9-12 gig per month, this is the only connection i have in my country home. I have opened a complaint with attorny generals office in Indianapolis to address this issue. Who else has reached out against this unfair practice?
Have you read this Network Optimization policy from Verizon Wireless?
http://m-support.verizonwireless.com/information/data_disclosure.html
I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.
Hello,
While I am not a victim to this practice I would like to add your story does not seem to be consistent with what I have heard and read on the subject. In most of the articles I have read it is only the top 5% in the nation that VZW applies a throttle to. Those users are restricted for a month or longer at a time before normal broadband speeds are returned. You had to be a pretty big time offender (over 100GB/mo) to be considered for that list.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/03/verizon-can-now-throttle-top-five-percent-of-bandwidth-hogs-down/
Other service providers exercise this authority too. A recent article by EVDOInfo.com reported that Comcast can even cancel your cable connection if you exceed 250GB/mo. You shouldnt be on anyone's radar at your consumption level.
http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/data-usage/
Perhaps something has changed that I am not aware of but I was under the impression that they did not do this tower by tower. Theoretically VZW could be throttling users who are under the data limit for thier account if noone else was using it as much as they were in thier area according to your story. VZW should have an article posted somewhere that explains how they monitor and enforce data caps, I just dont have a link handy at the moment.
**Edit** Seems Ann beat me to the punch: http://m-support.verizonwireless.com/information/data_disclosure.html
That being said there definitly is something funny going on with the VZW tech reps you have been speaking too. Suggesting that a 4G data plan would not be vulnerable to throttling is pretty rediculous.
**Edit** There seems to be a difference between throttling and optimization. Perhaps that is where the confusion lies?
Verizon only throttle on peak usage times. Which ALL ISP world wide do. It is nothing new. Verizon is applying what landline ISP has been doing to their 3G network.
To use that much data to get on the list on 3G you would have to be violating the terms of service which is easy to prove.
A 4g plan wouldn't be throttled cause you pay for it....ITS not unlimited...I was told I am nearing my usage for month so they have slowed me down...
Sorry if you already have unlimited data then you should have it when you upgrade to a new 4G device. I have a Galaxy Nexus and a Charge both of which we have unlimited data...
Broadband devices (USB and Mifi) do not have a grandfathered unlimited data plan option. When a person upgrades from a 3G only broadband device with unlimited
broadband plan to a 4G LTE broadband device they must select one of the tiered broadband data plans.
I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.
Ah... The new mobile had much to desire... font is small 🙂
I know and understand this Optimization as presented long after my purchase of an unlimited plan. I am being Optimized throttled to a level less than a dial up connction and was told this will stay in place until end of billing cycle and reestablished when i met the top 5% user on my site. I am not a gamer at all and surf the typical sites and post a pic no and then or download some you tube. I dotnstream movies like netflix and such or music like pandora and such thru my pc. I also understand the diffence from my Bionic unlimited that gets grandfathered in and my 760 that dont. seems odd that the usb devices are restricted and the whole practice of Optimization i.e. a bs word for Throttleing is even legal. If I was using a 100 gig per month be one thing I dont think I have ever broke past 12gig to be honest. To be forced to pay the crazy charges for a 10g 4g service then 10.00 a gig for overage and 4g not even availalble is poor customer service. If you read the fine print on that Optimization read is plain says that Verizon reserves the right to Optimize 4G in the future. Where does this stop?????????????????
ejcouch wrote:
I know and understand this Optimization as presented long after my purchase of an unlimited plan. I am being Optimized throttled to a level less than a dial up connction and was told this will stay in place until end of billing cycle and reestablished when i met the top 5% user on my site. I am not a gamer at all and surf the typical sites and post a pic no and then or download some you tube. I dotnstream movies like netflix and such or music like pandora and such thru my pc. I also understand the diffence from my Bionic unlimited that gets grandfathered in and my 760 that dont. seems odd that the usb devices are restricted and the whole practice of Optimization i.e. a ** word for Throttleing is even legal. If I was using a 100 gig per month be one thing I dont think I have ever broke past 12gig to be honest. To be forced to pay the crazy charges for a 10g 4g service then 10.00 a gig for overage and 4g not even availalble is poor customer service. If you read the fine print on that Optimization read is plain says that Verizon reserves the right to Optimize 4G in the future. Where does this stop?????????????????
It's been legal since landline providers. As I said before Verizon is implementing the same stuff ISP been doing for years. Verizon is starting to ENFORCE something that has been in the terms and conditions.
4G network will always be less congested than the 3G network. Data moves much quicker and ports close and open quicker due to the difference in speeds. The longer ports stay open the more congested things become. 4G will not be seeing throttle for a long while.
My typical speed is 1 mg down with as much as 1.5meg and 500 k up with slow times 250-400 k up. During this Optimization my speeds are 5k-30k down and the same up with burst of 200-400k that last for 1 second or less. I have seen the limits stay in the 5-10k range for hours. the limits run the same thru out the 24 hour period and the same for last 15 days or so. And yes it will be restored on the 22nd when my billing cycle rolls over only to be reduced again in matter of days for being in the top 5% on my cell site. I am struggling to even get this page open to respond.
Out of curiousity, how much have your speeds decreased since you were informed of the optimization? Try running a few tests on speedtest.net for us and post your results. A typical 3G connection will run around 1Mb for download.
As I read further into the Optimization document it does seem like VZW is applying Optimization based on your tower and time of day. However, you are not necessarily flagged and put on the Optimization list based solely on your tower. Optimization does not suggest you will be slowed 100% of the time. It does suggest that if your tower is congested at any point in the day you will move to the bottom of the totem pole for priority of bandwidth. It would be possible to travel to a different site and connect to that tower instead or wait for an off peak hour. In both those situations your normal speed should be restored.
Throttling is a garunteed slow down 100% of the time for the duration of the billing period.
Well I am with YOU, It is fraud. They told me they are slowing me down due to heavy usage. Bet they don't slow people down that have the new plan....CAUSE they want more money....I also will file a report with attorney general here in ohio. I am IRATE over this.
my usage for the month so far is 5.2 gig and my bandwidth is 5-30k on my unlimited plan this is straight fraud. I have a case started with attorny Generals office now. Will see what happens.
I'm interested to know what people are getting for ping rates. I have unlimited plan, 8 months ago it was great 1.5-2mb down, for the last 2 months i'm lucky to see 700kbbs down, I don't use that much data vs some people this month i'm only up to 1.5g data so far. In July I actually managed to stream an entire 1080p movie form vudu without interruption. now it takes this page 2 mins to load. but I can actually do everything I need to online with 700kbbs if I have ping rates under 100ms. Here seems to be my issue, my ping rates are averaging 800ms, spikes to 1800ms, all the time, its driving me crazy, I don't care if they need to Throttle or "optimize" data, but when Ping rates can't get below 800ms it makes me think there is an infrastructure problem. They don't Throttle ping rates. Once in while I understand high ping crowded servers but 2 months 90% the time its 800ms or higher.
I too am very upset over this "optimization" program. I have been a long time unlimited customer and usually use about 3G per month. Verizon states this only affects the top 5% heavy users, I find it hard to believe that I am in this top group. This definition of heavy user is taken from their Q&A "How will I know if I’m in the top 5% of data users?
As of August 2011, the top 5% of data users were using 2 GB or more of data each month." Come on, only 2G? We do need to band together is opposing this ridiculously low limit.
I dont mean to stir the pot on this conversation but I came across a great article that clarifies some of the logic that VZW is applying for defining a "Heavy User".
See the following article for details (published Fab 8 2012):
TLDR;
"According to The Nielsen Company, the average per-user data consumption by U.S. smartphone customers was 606.1MB -- or about 0.59GB -- per month in the third quarter of 2011 (the most recent period for which measurements were available)."
I believe the Mobile Hotspot and Mobile Data Card users are getting the short end of the stick as the result of the overwelming number of smartphone users that tap into the same 3G and 4G LTE networks. If you look at the big picture it does seem like anyone comsuming 2Gb per month is not necessarily the top 5% but they are more than 2x the average. There is some relief to know that the trend has been increasing consistently. At some point in the future the data may show that the average user consumes 2Gb of data or more per month, but we just aren't there yet.
The current "throttle" system is the exact same thing landline ISP have been doing for years except for capping bandwidth(for example time Warner caps your download to be no higher than 5mbps and 1mbps and during peak times they cut that in 1/2...
Verizon is taking the throttling a bit too far in my opinion. I'm including a snapshot of my speed test. Notice I'm in 3G & I've got 4 bars.
I was told the Throttle would be lifted at billing cycle, well that was the 21st of feb. and still limited to less than dial up. I traveled to North carolina from Indiana and had same issues all across network. I have been thru 4 levels of supers at VZ and they all say the throttle sticks for 2 billing cycles. This is just a ploy to force us off unlimited accounts. The open admit any pay per gig accounts will not be throttled. and excuse was they figure unlimited accounts have more ability to suck up all the band width, LMAO what a lame excuse. They keep changing the rules. I used to be proud of paying premium dollar for a good service now Verizon has reduced itself to the likes of Revol and Straight Talk. There is a complaint started in the Attorny Generals office in Indianpolis Indiana. you can go online to there site and start one aswell to add to what I have started or start your own in your area. I think its time to rattle the giants bean stalk and chop it down. IF they are willing to waste my time I am willing to waste theirs.
ejcouch wrote:
I was told the Throttle would be lifted at billing cycle, well that was the 21st of feb. and still limited to less than dial up. I traveled to North carolina from Indiana and had same issues all across network. I have been thru 4 levels of supers at VZ and they all say the throttle sticks for 2 billing cycles. This is just a ploy to force us off unlimited accounts. The open admit any pay per gig accounts will not be throttled. and excuse was they figure unlimited accounts have more ability to suck up all the band width, LMAO what a lame excuse. They keep changing the rules.
The optimization 'rule' has been in place since either january or July of 2011. There was not a constant changing of the rules.
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