
Facing net neutrality critics, Verizon lifts data caps on public safety workers - MilnerRoute
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/18/08/26/001242/facing-net-neutrality-criticism-verizon-suddenly-lifts-data-caps-on-all-public-safety-workers
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tooltalk
I never quite understood what the net neutrality debate was about, having even
spent some years at ISP in NYC. So net neutrality is all about giving
unlimited data access to pulic safety workers?

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abdullahkhalids
People who support net neutrality believe that if private corporations are
allowed to bill packets based on destination/origin/content instead of
treating them all equally, society would be worse off. Here is a prime example
of a corporation being extremely petty in a emergency situation when possibly
lives are at risk. To quote:

'Verizon's throttling has everything to do with net neutrality -- it shows
that the ISPs will act in their economic interests, even at the expense of
public safety," County Counsel James Williams said on behalf of the county and
fire department.'

How then will a corporation act when the stakes are even lower? Act in public
interest or profit seeking?

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orangecat
_Verizon 's throttling has everything to do with net neutrality_

And that's just wrong. Verizon throttled the fire department after they hit
the specified bandwidth limit, without regard to the content of the traffic.
The people who are mad at Verizon are claiming that they should have treated
the traffic differently because it was more important, which is exactly the
opposite of net neutrality.

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BigTex420
There isn't (read: shouldn't be) a bandwidth limit on unlimited plans, which
the fire department had

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ComputerGuru
Sure, _but global bandwidth limits have nothing to do with net neutrality._

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ex-pralite-monk
Right after the last two hurricanes hit Florida, Verizon temporarily granted
unlimited data to those in the affected area, which I thought was very
sporting of them.

Even if your DSL/cable connection was still alive, your router battery backup
ran out of power within hours, so cell phone data was the only way to
communicate and stay informed.

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retox
Net neutrality means that every packet should be treated exactly the same, how
does that marry up with giving preferential treatment for specific packets for
safety workers?

This is the exact opposite of net "neutrality".

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fundingshovel
This a fire dept wanting people outside of taxable area to pay for it's data
usage and calling it "Net Neutrality" for news coverage.

Sighs. So much fail.

