Verizon has a lot of customers grandfathered into their unlimited data plan, which has since been turned into some tier data plans, but now the unlimited users are using too much. Verizon has slowly started to take notice of them and the company says the top 5 percent will start to be throttled. The customers on the 4G LTE plan or 3G tiered plans will not be affected in any way. If you are one of the lucky ones on the 3G unlimited plans, be prepared to notice the speed change, if you are in the top 5 percent of course.
If you are one of the customers that picked up the iPhone 4 and got the unlimited plan, you will likely be steered in one of three directions. If you end up in a conversation with a Verizon rep you will likely be asked to pick up a new 4G LTE device, switch to the 3G tiered plans or simply connect via Wi-Fi as much as you possibly can. As soon as you get passed the threshold, which was not reported, your speeds will be throttled down for the remainder of the billing cycle. Verizon said that when they throttle your speed, it’s not like the other companies do by throttling you down in speed no matter what for the rest of your billing cycle. The way Verizon throttles, or “optimizes their network” as they call it, is that you will only be throttled if you are near a congested tower.
The practice is known as network capacity management and it has been in place for Verizon since February customers. Even since February the company has not really enforced the throttling, but said this week it has no other choice. Verizon customers will be getting notices regarding the matter in the mail in the coming weeks. Reports out today said that Verizon tried to down play the throttling by saying it would only effect a small amount of the customers.
According to the FAQ section of the Verizon website:
“95% of our data customers will not see any change in service. You’ll continue surfing the Web, downloading music, uploading pictures and sending emails just as you always have. The highest data users, the top 5% with 3G devices on unlimited data plans, may experience managed data speeds when connected to a congested 3G cell site after reaching certain data-usage levels in a bill cycle. 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.”
