14 DAY TRIAL // The games Verizon plays with people’s Internet connections have long been criticized by users and companies such as Netflix, but this time around, it’s the FCC’s turn to step in.
Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has sent Dan Mead, the chief of Verizon Wireless, a letter in which the company’s new policy is being heavily criticized.
Wheeler says he is deeply troubled by the move and explains that the arbitrary connection slowdowns may be violating the open access rules that Verizon promised to obey in 2008.
“Your website explains that this was an extension of your ‘Network Optimization’ policy, which, according to your website, applies only to customers with unlimited data plans. Specifically, Verizon Wireless ‘manage[s] data connection speeds for a small subset of customers – the top 5% of data users on unlimited data plans’ in places and at times when the network is experiencing high demand,” the FCC chief wrote.
As a reminder, Verizon Wireless announced last week that it was going to slow down some customers’ data speeds on the 4G LTE network starting in October 2014. Basically, whenever the network isn’t fit enough to carry all the data some people need, those who chose unlimited data plans would, ironically, get some limitations set by Verizon.
Tom Wheeler finds the plan disturbing because the company would base its “network management” on distinctions among its customers’ data plans, rather than on network architecture or technology.
The FCC already has some rules about how network management practices need to be deployed. According to the FCC’s assessment, such practices need to be reasonable and they need to be tailored to achieving a legitimate network management purpose, while taking into account the particular network architecture and technology of the broadband Internet access service.
The committee considers that legitimate network management purposes involve ensuring network security and integrity, including by addressing traffic that is harmful to the network, unwanted by end users, and reducing or mitigating the effects of congestions on the network.
“I know of no past Commission statement that would treat as ‘reasonable network management’ a decision to slow traffic to a user who has paid, after all, for ‘unlimited’ service,” Wheeler writes.
He urges the Verizon boss to answer a few questions regarding their decision, basically asking him to bring justifications for their decision to throttle Internet speeds for a group of users and to explain how this fits into the net neutrality rules.
Considering the extended discussion on the topic of net neutrality in recent months, Verizon’s decision to throttle Internet speeds for only a category of users isn’t boding well with the FCC. If net neutrality rules could have been enforced by the FCC, then such a move as the one Verizon is trying to make, would be shut down immediately. Alas, the regulator needs to make the decision to reclassify ISPs under Title II as common carriers for this to be possible.