Verizon to lift wireless data caps on public safety next week, with immediate help for Hawaii, West Coast
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Verizon to lift wireless data caps on public safety next week, with immediate help for Hawaii, West Coast
Both packages cover all data uses except streaming video from non-smartphone devices and fixed-broadband uses, Erwin said. But even these two uses can be waived during emergencies, she said.
“In an emergency situation, we will remove any restrictions, including the streaming video and the broadband capability of fixed wireless,” Erwin said.
With this in mind, these data-plan changes to provide public safety with greater access to the Verizon network already have been implemented in Hawaii—where a hurricane is projected to make landfall this weekend—and along the West Coast, which is in the midst of another difficult season of wildfires.
“We have removed all restrictions for public safety and first responders up and down the West Coast and in Hawaii, to make sure that they have full, unfettered access to the network—and that has already happened,” Erwin said.
“Rather than waiting for those customers to accept these terms, because it falls into the category of an emergency, we have removed all restrictions for those customers up and down the West Coast and in Hawaii, as we prepare for the hurricane activity there.”
In most of the U.S., Verizon representatives will begin offering the new data plans to public-safety customers next week. Although the new plans do not represent any price changes, the new terms will not be implemented until these public-safety customers accept them.
Verizon representatives will contact existing public-safety customers to offer the new data plans and to identify which users qualify for the two different tiers, Erwin said.
“Our expectation is that we would be working very rapidly next week to reach out to each one of our first-responder partners and public safety to initiate that process,” she said. “Again, it would not be a dollar change in the market but rather [a change in] the capabilities that are available in that plan. But, because it is a contractual relationship, it does require customer acceptance of the terms.”
In addition, customers can use Verizon’s online portal to agree to the term changes, Erwin said.
Verizon has received considerable criticism this week, when a lawsuit revealed that Verizon significantly throttled data speeds to a key piece of broadband equipment used by the Santa Clara County Fire Department while fighting the massive Mendocino Complex Fire this summer—actions that Verizon officials acknowledge as a mistake.
Erwin said she believes the new public-safety data plans will help prevent such an error from being repeated in the future, but she said Verizon officials have been developing these data offerings for more than eight months.
“This is not a reaction to Santa Clara,” Erwin said. “This is not in response to what has happened this week, but rather in response to what customers have been telling us and the increase in natural disasters that we’ve seen.”
Verizon has not finalized a data plan that is tailored to the needs of volunteer first responders and those who utilize personal devices for public-safety work in a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) scenario, but the carrier hopes to release these details in mid-September, Erwin said.