Does/will Verizon throttle high data users?

[carter17]

No they don't. All the info specifically states "4G devices" not "4G data".

Trust me I was having really bad data speeds called VZW and went to tier 3 support and the lady looked at my data usuage and was like that's what I figured ur over 2gb and at that point u will be throttled. I hit her with the I have a 4g device she said it does not matter if ur using 3g now if u go to a 4g area u will no longer be affected I was on the phone with them almost an hour over this and my 3g speeds at time were way slower then usual went to the city the next day on 4g was no problem 25+ mb down load so it makes sense to me

 

[FrankXS]

Trust me I was having really bad data speeds called VZW and went to tier 3 support and the lady looked at my data usuage and was like that's what I figured ur over 2gb and at that point u will be throttled. I hit her with the I have a 4g device she said it does not matter if ur using 3g now if u go to a 4g area u will no longer be affected I was on the phone with them almost an hour over this and my 3g speeds at time were way slower then usual went to the city the next day on 4g was no problem 25+ mb down load so it makes sense to me

That's cool. But I think she was wrong. She shouldn't "figure".

-Frank

 

[Phoenix111]

What if we have a thunderbolt, live in a 3g only area and have the $30 unlimited tethering plan? Vzw seems to combine hotspots and cell usage together on my data tracker. If I pay for the $30 extra unlimited tethering plan I better not be throttled.

 

[Mortiel]

Trust me I was having really bad data speeds called VZW and went to tier 3 support and the lady looked at my data usuage and was like that's what I figured ur over 2gb and at that point u will be throttled. I hit her with the I have a 4g device she said it does not matter if ur using 3g now if u go to a 4g area u will no longer be affected I was on the phone with them almost an hour over this and my 3g speeds at time were way slower then usual went to the city the next day on 4g was no problem 25+ mb down load so it makes sense to me

A few problems I have with this post... First, "tier 3" support is the unofficial name we use for direct manufacturer support for troubleshooting devices, such as Blackberry or HTC tech support. Verizon itself does not have 3 tiers of support.

Secondly, Verizon is required to notify you shortly after you have been throttled via SMS and mail that you have been throttled, why, and for how long. There is also an easy-for-representatives to find feature on your account called Packet Flow Optimization that takes the guesswork out of the rep's job on why your speeds are slow. She looked at your usage, saw you were over 2 GB and ASSUMED it was throttled. She obviously had no idea what was going on.

Lastly, and most importantly, there is no "soft limit" of 2 GB of usage before you get throttled. It is the top 5% of users on congested cell sites using 3G devices on an unlimited/legacy data plan. Now, its possible that if you were unlucky enough to live in an overly crowded retirement community that all have Verizon and you are the only one using data, you could get screwed, however if you have a 4G device there is provisioning on your account preventing the feature called Packet Flow Optimization from being added to your account. Period.

There was likely another reason you had slow speeds on 3G, and that rep should have assessed it better.

 

[carter17]

All I was saying is what I was told by them but I guess that's what i get for believing them... because I thought i read what everyone is saying here about 4g devices not being affected so sorry for the wrong info

 

[Mortiel]

All I was saying is what I was told by them but I guess that's what i get for believing them... because I thought i read what everyone is saying here about 4g devices not being affected so sorry for the wrong info

I posted that as much for your benefit as for anyone else here... In other words you may have another problem causing your speeds to decrease that you may wants to fix if it has not improved.

Also note that throttling is a very specific speed; namely: 100 Kbps cap to both upload and download. If you are getting 200-500 Kbps on 3G that is not throttling, its just slow.

So to recap:

-Throttling can only be done to 3G devices on unlimited/legacy data plans that are on congested cell sites.

-There is no specific amount of usage at which throttling is implemented. Theoretically, if you are on a congested cell site where people use very little data, you could get throttled at 1 MB of usage. Its extremely unlikely, but could happen in theory.

-There is a specific feature that will appear on your account once you have been throttled that any customer service or tech support rep can verify called Packet Flow Optimization. This limits your speed specifically to 100 Kbps upload and download.

That literally spells it out as clearly and completely as I think I possibly can be done.

 

[FrankXS]

That literally spells it out as clearly and completely as I think I possibly can be done.

Look, approaching this circumstance with facts and common sense is unlikely to really help the issue.

-Frank

 

[Mortiel]

Look, approaching this circumstance with facts and common sense is unlikely to really help the issue.

-Frank

From the mixture of some of our reps mixed with a few of the eyebrow raising corporate decisions make me completely agree with you.

Logic =/= Verizon