A year ago, Verizon Wireless announced that it would begin throttling 4G LTE service for users on unlimited data plans, using the same policy it already applied to its slower 3G network. Verizon caved after criticism from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, so the 4G throttling never went into effect. However, Verizon kept right on throttling its 3G customers.

That finally changed two months ago, though we didn't notice it at the time.

Further Reading FCC chair accuses Verizon of throttling unlimited data to boost profits

"Beginning in 2011, to optimize our network, we managed data connection speeds for a small subset of customers—those who are in the top five percent of data users and have 3G devices on unlimited data plans—and only in places and at times when the network was experiencing high demand. We discontinued this practice in June 2015," Verizon now says on its website . A reader pointed out the updated language to us yesterday, and RCRWireless News reported the change today

The change in June occurred in the same month that the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality rules against throttling took effect. Though carriers could argue that some throttling is allowable under an exception for "reasonable network management," Sprint stopped throttling its heaviest users just in case.

AT&T still throttles customers when they hit certain usage thresholds (5GB in a month for LTE phones and 3GB for slower phones). T-Mobile throttles customers on its unlimited high-speed data plans when they use more than 21GB a month. For both AT&T and T-Mobile, the throttling only happens in times and places where there is network congestion.

Instead of throttling specific users when they use too much data, Verizon says it now deploys video optimization technology on 3G and 4G "to transmit data more efficiently, ease capacity burdens on the network, primarily from video files, and improve the user experience with faster downloads and decreased Internet latency."

Wheeler last year accused Verizon of using its throttling program to boost revenue, rather than for any legitimate network management purpose. Verizon had stopped offering unlimited data to new customers, urging customers on the grandfathered unlimited plans to switch to "usage-based data" plans, which may be more expensive and have overage fees.

Verizon was under greater pressure to stop throttling 4G users than 3G ones last year, because the 4G spectrum it bought in an auction had special non-discrimination requirements. The addition of network neutrality rules and continued migration of customers from 3G to 4G may have affected the decision to finally stop throttling 3G users this year.

UPDATE: We asked Verizon if the net neutrality rules had any effect on its decision, but the company did not give a yes or no answer. A spokesperson said, "We make these types of business decisions all the time—because it was such a small subset of customers who were being impacted, we made the call to discontinue even a limited approach to throttling. Today, we don’t optimize or cap at all."