California county calls data throttling of firefighters ‘ridiculous,’ Verizon apologizes for ‘process failure’

Erwin said she believes that Verizon’s new data plans—offerings that include the removal of data caps for first responders and significantly limit the possibility of data throttling for customers that support first responders—will enhance the carrier’s ability to serve the needs of public safety during emergencies, because the terms of the data contracts will be clearer for both public safety and Verizon’s customer-support staff.

“It’s repeatable, systemic processes, as opposed to having to rely on an individual to have the information,” Erwin said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications.

Santa Clara County’s Williams said he had not been informed of Verizon’s new data plans for public-safety customers but expressed optimism at the prospect. However, Williams said he does not believe such matters should be determined solely by Internet service providers (ISPs) like Verizon.

“It’s better late than never that they’re taking some action to ensure that there’s access for public safety, but we shouldn’t have to be relying on Verizon customer service to keep our community safe,” Williams said during the interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “I think there should be some basic standards, just like we have standards for other forms of telecommunications, like basic regulation of the 911 system with landlines and cell phones.

“It’s a good thing that they’re going to help take care of public safety. I don’t think, in any way, it diminishes the fundamental point that we’ve raised, which is that we should be having some basic standards here, not leaving it up for ISPs to decide on an ad-hoc basis.”

Verizon has been the market leader for years in providing wireless broadband connectivity to first responders, but the carrier is receiving a significant challenge in the space from FirstNet, which has contracted with AT&T to build and maintain a nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN). 

“This reinforces the need for FirstNet, which does not throttle subscribers anywhere in the country," according to an AT&T spokesperson. "Instead, FirstNet gives public safety the capabilities they need with the affordability they require—that’s what it means to be public safety’s network platform partner.

"FirstNet is designed with and for first responders to meet their needs in ways that other providers clearly aren’t. This is a great example of why public safety deserves a nationwide dedicated network platform that intimately understands their needs—which FirstNet today meets."

Questions from IWCE’s Urgent Communications whether public-safety agencies that remain on AT&T’s commercial data plans could be subject to data throttling—as in the Santa Clara County situation—were not answered in time to be included in this article.

Earlier this week, Verizon released a statement that the Santa Clara County fire department’s data-throttling saga has “nothing to do with net neutrality … This was a customer-support mistake.” In response, Santa Clara County issued a statement that included the following quote from Williams:

“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,” according to Williams’ prepared statement. “That is exactly what the Trump Administration’s repeal of Net Neutrality allows and encourages.

“In repealing Net Neutrality rules, the Trump Administration failed to consider public safety threats as required by law. For this reason alone, the repeal of Net Neutrality is illegal and must be overturned.”