Verizon Begins Heavily Throttling Video We now know why Verizon Wireless was tinkering with throttling video a few weeks ago. The company has announced that it will begin heavily throttling its wireless broadband customers this week, restricting 4K video streaming entirely, and placing new restrictions on tethering. The short version: Verizon is effectively eliminating its current unlimited data plan and replacing it with three, tightly restricted new options:

• Go Unlimited: $75/month for one line. Video capped to 480p on smartphones, 720p on tablets. • Beyond Unlimited: $85/month for one line. Video capped to 720p on smartphones, 1080p on tablets. • Business Unlimited: Price varies. Video capped to 480p on smartphones, 720p on tablets. In short, you'll need to pay $10 more per month if you want higher quality video on your phone or tablet. 4K streaming will no longer be an option on Verizon's wireless network, as there's no option to completely un-throttle video moving forward under these new plans. And any Verizon Wireless network traffic determined to be video will not be provided more than 10 Mbps of bandwidth. Existing Verizon Wireless customers don't have to switch plans, but your video resolution will be reduced to 720p on phones and 1080p on tablets regardless of what plan you're on moving forward. "These plans give you the best unlimited choices, but you also get what only Verizon can give you: the best network, the best rewards program, the best way to manage your plan with the My Verizon app and the best selection of phones and devices,” the company proclaimed in an announcement. The move comes after Verizon was forced to bring back unlimited data due to competition from T-Mobile, but then found its network was starting to slow slightly under the user load. Verizon executives had spent years stating that consumers neither wanted nor needed unlimited data (that wound up being decidedly untrue). Even under former FCC boss Tom Wheeler, the FCC turned a blind eye to both zero rating (exempting an ISP or partner's content from caps) as well as charging users more money to lift throttling for certain classes of content, something AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile also engage in. But with Verizon at the lead of lobbying the FCC to kill net neutrality, there's every indication that these plans will get notably more expensive, and more restrictive, over time. "We're doing this to ensure all customers have a great experience on our network since there is no visible difference in quality on a smartphone or tablet when video is shown at higher resolutions than 720p on phones and 1080p on tablets," Verizon says of the changes. "We're doing this to ensure all customers have a great experience on our network since there is no visible difference in quality on a smartphone or tablet when video is shown at higher resolutions than 720p on phones and 1080p on tablets," Verizon says of the changes.







News Jump Comcast Shuts Off Internet for Subs Who Were Sold Service Illegally; AT&T, Verizon Team To Stop T-Mobile 5G; + more news California Defends Its Net Neutrality Law; AT&T's Traffic Up 20% Despite Data Traffic Actually Being Down; + more news Are The Comcast-Charter X1 Talks Dead In The Water?; AT&T May Offer Phone Plans With Ads For Discounts; + more news Europe's Top Court: Net Neutrality Rules Bar Zero Rating; ViacomCBS To Rebrand CBS All Access As Paramount+; + more news Verizon To Buy Reseller TracFone For $7B; 5G Not The Competitive Threat To Cable Many Thought It Would Be; + more news MS.Wants Records From AT&T On $300M Project; Google Fiber Outages In Austin, Houston, Other Texan Cities; + more news States With The Biggest Decreases In Speed; AT&T Hopes You'll Forget Its Fight Against Accurate Maps; + more news AT&T's CEO Has A Familiar $olution To US Broadband Woes; EarthLink Files Suit Against Charter; + more news 5G Doesn't Live Up To Hype, AT&T's 5G Slower Than Its 4G; Cord-Cutting Now In 37% of Broadband Households; + more news FCC Cited False Broadband Data Despite Warnings; ZTE, Huawei Replacement Cost Is $1.87B, But Only $1B Allocated; + more ---------------------- this week last week most discussed

Most recommended from 135 comments



Frank

Premium Member

join:2000-11-03

somewhere 53 recommendations Frank Premium Member Just use a vpn.



Or better yet, switch providers and tell them throttling is the reason why when Verizon asks why you cancelled. To avoid all this nonsense.Or better yet, switch providers and tell them throttling is the reason why when Verizon asks why you cancelled.

Hawkeye61

Premium Member

join:2000-06-26

Forest Hills, NY TP-Link Archer C9

31 recommendations Hawkeye61 Premium Member So denial was wrong Interesting when Tmobile called out Verizon for having a much slower network due to offering unlimited. Verizon of course said that it's network is handling the increased data with no problem..

Also if you remember Verizon said that they do not need to hinder a customer's speed watching videos..



This just shows that the network was being strained since it did not take long from test to having implement the video limits..



I can see John legree jumping all over Verizon on this and Tmobile responding with a new option only their network.. xpxp2002

join:2014-08-29

NEO 15 recommendations xpxp2002 Member Welcome to the future Just wait until net neutrality goes away. This is exactly how wired broadband will be sold: throttled, price-tiered, and expensive. pL86

join:2016-01-29 4 edits 15 recommendations pL86 Member Verizon - the network that tells you what's good enough "We're doing this to ensure all customers have a great experience on our network since there is no visible difference in quality on a smartphone or tablet when video is shown at higher resolutions than 720p on phones and 1080p on tablets," Verizon says of the changes."



Can't wait for the new Verizon ads: "2 out of 3 customers don't notice the difference in video quality!"



Apparently, Verizon learned nothing from the beating they took over unlimited plans. It's like those clueless "2 out of 3 customers use less than 5gb data" ads they ran right before they brought back the unlimited plans that people didn't need. Those ads may have been factually true - setting aside the legitimate question whether people were frugal with their data usage because they didn't have an unlimited option - but they were completely tone deaf. I shake my head that Verizon is trying this approach again.



The other question that occurs to me is whether the caps on video streaming will be accompanied with charging for the "right" to exceed the cap. Is Verizon going to let Netflix stream at 1080p quality to smartphones if Netflix pays Verizon? tpkatl

join:2009-11-16

Dacula, GA 13 recommendations tpkatl Member It all comes down to under-investment and lousy management Business decisions made years ago, presumably to make the profits look good back then.



Except now, Verizon has a physical plant that is inadequate for the demands of the customers. Rather than spend the money to improve their physical plant, they will screw the customers with poorer quality video.



If you want to blame someone, blame the Verizon Board and CEO for poor planning and lousy assessment of future growth. T-Mobile invests. Verizon divests. videomatic3

join:2003-12-12

Pleasanton, CA 11 recommendations videomatic3 Member 🖕 haggler

join:2002-05-15

Glendale, CA 2 edits 11 recommendations haggler Member wtf I thought these guys were losing subs? They basically jacked the price up $70 for 4 lines AND started throttling video. And if you want HD its a full $100 more. Are these guys serious?



EDIT: sorry missed the PER line

so basically: 4 lines - 160 base unlimited

4 lines - 200 "premium" unlimited - jacked up from 180. CyberGuy

join:2006-08-21

Colbert, WA 8 recommendations CyberGuy Member As phones approach 4k video capability Verizon decides even 1080p HD is too much for ye mere mortals.

Anonab4d0

@rr.com 7 recommendations Anonab4d0 Anon 1 down, 1 to go Bad decisions of McAdam and Shammo years ago. Shammo is gone and hopefully McAdam is out soon. Corporate

join:2014-10-04 4 recommendations Corporate Member Scratching Verizon off my list Well, I was considering switching to Verizon once my lease was up, but I guess I can scratch that off my list now.



I'll just stay with Sprint until something better comes along.



Sprint may reduce video to 1080p, but at least that's full HD, and for zero additional cost to boot.



Sprint even offers 4K streaming for an additional $10/month on their underperforming network!

srtdodge05

Premium Member

join:2011-10-16

Ypsilanti, MI 3 recommendations srtdodge05 Premium Member 2 year Contract is back. Don't forget that the 2 year contract is back. If you sign a contract you get 5gb more on hotspot. sd70mac

Premium Member

join:2015-10-18

Woodstock, IL 3 recommendations sd70mac Premium Member Open access This make me wish even more that we had the Scandinavian solution of a single open access cellular network using all the best spectrum, and all the companies offering services are MVNOs. cringey

Premium Member

join:2002-02-07

Whitehouse Station, NJ 3 recommendations cringey Premium Member Up Rewards lol I love how their shoddy Rewards plan is a selling point for this. "To offer you this rewards plan we had to cut back on this!"

Defiance

Computer Elite

Premium Member

join:2002-09-11

Burlington, WI 2 recommendations Defiance Premium Member Drop Verizon Well AT&T still has their Unlimited Plus plan for $90/month and it includes HBO which is a $14.99 value. It also allows doesn't restrict Video. I stream at 1080p & 1440p all the time!