There is an interesting dynamic emerging with Verizon's stated intention to throttle their top 5% of users:
Verizon Wireless strives to provide customers the best experience when using our network, a shared resource among tens of millions of customers. To help achieve this, if you use an extraordinary amount of data and fall within the top 5% of Verizon Wireless data users we may reduce your data throughput speeds periodically for the remainder of your then current and immediately following billing cycle to ensure high quality network performance for other users at locations and times of peak demand. Our proactive management of the Verizon Wireless network is designed to ensure that the remaining 95% of data customers aren't negatively affected by the inordinate data consumption of just a few users.
I would expect some push-back on the fact that Verizon will throttle a user for up to two months, even though users are on a monthly plan.
However, perhaps more interesting, is if this throttle is going to be applied simply based on bandwidth consumption, or if there is another layer of policy.
Will a user consuming paid-for content, for which Verizon may be getting a portion, be penalized in exactly the same was as a bit-torrent user?
There is a second, related question: What is the actual bandwidth usage that will push you into the 5% range? The T-Mobile "5 GB" measure is absolute; Verizon's is relative. If I watch a few sitcom's on my new Verizon iPhone, will I be penalized? If data usage grows by 10% across the entire network, supposedly the 5% threshold will also rise proportionally?
The announcement raises more questions than it answers. Of course, Verizon needs to throttle, and this will be an evolving system. It will be interesting to watch.
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