

Ask HN: Verizon unlimited data plans getting customer calls? - sockgrant

I just got a &quot;customer happiness&quot; call from Verizon. They told me that in the next 90 days they are rolling out new policies to their towers -- the top 5% of data users are going to be throttled during peak times -- and I&#x27;m being called because I may be a high data user.<p>The representative then wanted to get me to sign a new 2 year contract so I could move to their &quot;SLTE&quot; network (he said LTE was like 4 highway lanes, and SLTE is like 8.....).<p>Here&#x27;s the thing, I&#x27;m pretty sure I was called because I still have my old unlimited data plan. The rep promised me they would keep my unlimited data plan if I signed a new contract, but I don&#x27;t really believe him.<p>A few questions:<p>1) Anyone else out there get a call like this?<p>2) Legally, are they allowed to throttle unlimited data users?<p>3) Is SLTE real or a gimmick?<p>4) Is Verizon trying to trick me into dropping my unlimited data plan?<p>btw, I was told there are users doing 100gb - 400gb a month, so there&#x27;s no way I&#x27;ll be in the top 5%.
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wmf
2) The FCC is investigating this issue, but I suspect Verizon's throttling
will be allowed.

3) XLTE is LTE with double the spectrum. All else being equal, more spectrum
is faster.

4) Yes, obviously.

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tehwebguy
For 2) I would guess that it wasn't unlimited LTE when the contract was
signed, but probably EDGE or 3G, no?

I believe that is the justification behind the trotting.

~~~
wmf
Yeah, throttled LTE may still be faster than unthrottled EV-DO. Verizon just
released their official rationale:
[http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/08/verizon-we-
throttle-...](http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/08/verizon-we-throttle-
unlimited-data-to-provide-an-incentive-to-limit-usage/)

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JoshGlazebrook
I'm very interested in more details on this call. Could you shoot me an email
with all the details you have on exactly what they told you? I've been
monitoring HowardForums (a nerdy wireless forum) and a few other forums where
this kind of stuff is discussed and haven't heard of anyone receiving a call.

Could you possibly shoot me an email with all the info you have?

Check my HN bio for the email.

Thanks.

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2close4comfort
But even without XLTE there will be less congestion on the LTE network so in
larger markets you could see better performance anyway. Plus who's to say that
they won't throttle people with tiered plans once unlimited is gone, it wont
be hard to do it again with the groundwork already there.

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chrisBob
What do you do that uses so much data? I am on an unlimited data plan, and use
about 300MB over cell, and another 1GB over WiFi.

~~~
sockgrant
I have tethering. I'm a remote employee and I work from coffee shops, other
cities, etc. so I use my tethering connection for work (software) when I can't
get wifi.

~~~
chrisBob
Tethering makes sense. It seems that may people use that much data directly on
their phones and that is what I have trouble imagining.

~~~
crazypyro
Videos and music (especially podcasts, one of the ones I listen to is
regularly over 300mb per episode with multiple weekly episodes) take up a lot
for some people.

