On: Verizon throttled fire department’s “unlimited” da...

[LanceH]

It means the data is unmetered. Bandwidth may be throttled.

Contextually from whence we came (10cents a text, pay per megabyte), data being unlimited means no overages.

[jfk13 → LanceH]

> It means the data is unmetered. Bandwidth may be throttled.

If bandwidth is to be throttled after a specific amount of data has been used (rather than, say, in response to current overall network load), the data is clearly being metered in order to detect when to start throttling.

[sundvor → LanceH]

Then be honest instead of lying: "Unlimited data; limited bandwidth".

[userbinator → sundvor]

...which turns out to be limited data anyway.

It's so pervasive that I automatically ignore any mention of "unlimited" regarding bandwidth or total volume of data. These "unlimited" plans are more like "first X amount of data per month at Y speed; Z speed thereafter", but of course that's not catchy enough for marketing...

[JanisL → sundvor]

Limited bandwidth means limited data over a finite time frame. Something like "No overages on data; limited bandwidth" would be more accurate.

[Spivak → JanisL]

Unlimited bandwidth still means limited data over a finite time frame. The distinction is meaningless.

[JanisL → Spivak]

Infinity times something finite is still infinite. I think this distinction isn't as important as telling people how much data their maximum really is based on how much they could actually use through the system