As wildfires raged in California this summer, one fire department’s response was impeded by an unexpected problem: data throttling. In documents filed this week as part of a legal challenge to the FCC’s net neutrality repeal, Santa Clara County Fire Marshal Anthony Bowden explains how Verizon slowed device speeds during the crisis, hindering firefighters’ response. The throttling hindered firefighters’ response In the documents, flagged by Ars Technica, Bowden writes that the fire department had purchased an unlimited data plan from Verizon for a support unit’s connection, but the company started throttling speeds “to 1/200, or less” after the unit hit 25GB of use. Bowden writes that the resulting throttling from Verizon “had a significant impact on our ability to provide emergency services,” as responders were unable to properly track and route firefighting resources. The company continued to slow data speeds even after being informed it was “actively impeding” responders’ ability to fight the blazes, Bowden writes. Ultimately, the fire department had to sign up for a new, more expensive plan before speeds were restored. “Please work with us.” The throttling took place after the repeal of net neutrality rules went into effect, although Verizon, like other major carriers, throttled unlimited plans at certain use thresholds long before that. The fire district, which filed the documents with 22 state attorneys general, did not argue that the company’s actions would have violated the previous net neutrality rules. Verizon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The filing includes an increasingly frantic email exchange between Verizon representatives and the fire department. A fire official expressed confusion over “why our public safety data usage is getting throttled down” when they were under the impression that would never happen. “Please work with us,” a fire official wrote to Verizon at one point. “All we need is a plan that does not offer throttling or caps of any kind.” Update August 21st 7:00PM ET: Verizon provided a statement to The Verge by email, acknowledging that it made an error in handling the Santa Clara County situation. The company says it should have lifted the reduced data speeds once alerted that the customer was dealing with an emergency situation, but that didn't happen:<doc-sep>Firefighters monitor a backfire while battling the Ranch Fire, part of the Mendocino Complex Fire, near Ladoga, Calif., on August 7, 2018. Photo : AP Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday pressed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over its response to Verizon’s throttling of firefighters’ data speeds as they battled a major wildfire in Northern California. Advertisement The Santa Clara County fire chief, Anthony Bowden, declared last week that Verizon’s decision to throttle the communications of firefighters at a crucial command center during one of the state’s largest wildfires had a “significant impact on our ability to provide emergency services.” Bowden said that Verizon, whom the country fire department had paid for “unlimited data,” hobbled the first responders’ ability to communicate “despite being informed that throttling was actively impeding County Fire’s ability to provide crisis-response and essential emergency services.” In a letter Friday, Senator Edward Markey and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo demanded answers from the FCC over what steps it is currently taking to address “critical threats to public safety,” citing its decision to repeal Obama-era net neutrality protections. “To do nothing is unacceptable.” The 2015 Open Internet Order—overturned by the FCC’s Republican majority last winter—reclassified internet providers like Verizon as common carriers under Title II of the Federal Communications Act, granting the FCC regulatory authority that, in this instance, would have allowed the commission to investigate and potential penalize Verizon for impeding first responders. At Chairman Ajit Pai’s direction, the commission abdicated that authority this year. It no longer has the power to establish rules prohibiting Verizon from throttling emergency services, or charging police and fire departments additional fees to maintain their communications at optimal speeds when usage peaks—say, during a wildfire, or an earthquake, or a mass shooting. Advertisement “The FCC has incorrectly suggested that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) could sufficiently fill this void,” wrote Markey and Eschoo, whose congressional district includes portions of Santa Clara. “We strongly disagree with that assertion.” The FCC did not respond to a request for comment. Ernesto Falcon, legislative counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, explained why the FTC could not fill the FCC’s shoes, noting in a blog post that the FTC cannot act proactively: While proponents of repealing net neutrality will argue the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can manage this specific issue of transparency (they are right to a limited extent), they ignore the most critical differences between FTC power and the now-repealed FCC power. The FTC can only do something after the fact and nothing more. Meaning, in a literal sense, after the fire. And then if this came up again in another state, the FTC would have to wait until after the fire burned there. Notably, the FTC can’t ban throttling and upselling during an emergency. Advertisement In their letter, the Democratic lawmakers urged the FCC to make use of its Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and investigate the matter, saying that while the FTC may find Verizon’s actions exemplify an “unfair and deceptive practice,” both agencies should use “all of the tools available” to resolve this public safety matter. “To do nothing is unacceptable,” they said.<doc-sep>Update: The Santa Clara fire department has responded to Verizon's claim that the throttling was just a customer service error and "has nothing to do with net neutrality." To the contrary, "Verizon's throttling has everything to do with net neutrality," a county official said. Verizon Wireless' throttling of a fire department that uses its data services has been submitted as evidence in a lawsuit that seeks to reinstate federal net neutrality rules. "County Fire has experienced throttling by its ISP, Verizon," Santa Clara County Fire Chief Anthony Bowden wrote in a declaration. "This throttling has had a significant impact on our ability to provide emergency services. Verizon imposed these limitations despite being informed that throttling was actively impeding County Fire's ability to provide crisis-response and essential emergency services." Bowden's declaration was submitted in an addendum to a brief filed by 22 state attorneys general, the District of Columbia, Santa Clara County, Santa Clara County Central Fire Protection District, and the California Public Utilities Commission. The government agencies are seeking to overturn the recent repeal of net neutrality rules in a lawsuit they filed against the Federal Communications Commission in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Throttling affected response to wildfire "The Internet has become an essential tool in providing fire and emergency response, particularly for events like large fires which require the rapid deployment and organization of thousands of personnel and hundreds of fire engines, aircraft, and bulldozers," Bowden wrote. Santa Clara Fire paid Verizon for "unlimited" data but suffered from heavy throttling until the department paid Verizon more, according to Bowden's declaration and emails between the fire department and Verizon that were submitted as evidence. The throttling recently affected "OES 5262," a fire department vehicle that is "deployed to large incidents as a command and control resource" and is used to "track, organize, and prioritize routing of resources from around the state and country to the sites where they are most needed," Bowden wrote. "OES 5262 also coordinates all local government resources deployed to the Mendocino Complex Fire," an ongoing wildfire that is the largest in California's history, Bowden wrote. The vehicle has a device that uses a Verizon SIM card for Internet access. "In the midst of our response to the Mendocino Complex Fire, County Fire discovered the data connection for OES 5262 was being throttled by Verizon, and data rates had been reduced to 1/200, or less, than the previous speeds," Bowden wrote. "These reduced speeds severely interfered with the OES 5262's ability to function effectively. My Information Technology staff communicated directly with Verizon via email about the throttling, requesting it be immediately lifted for public safety purposes." Verizon did not immediately restore full speeds to the device, however. "Verizon representatives confirmed the throttling, but rather than restoring us to an essential data transfer speed, they indicated that County Fire would have to switch to a new data plan at more than twice the cost, and they would only remove throttling after we contacted the Department that handles billing and switched to the new data plan," Bowden wrote. Verizon “risking harm to public safety” Because the throttling continued until the department was able to upgrade its subscription, "County Fire personnel were forced to use other agencies' Internet Service Providers and their own personal devices to provide the necessary connectivity and data transfer capability required by OES 5262," Bowden wrote. Advertisement Verizon throttling also affected the department in a response to previous fires in December and June, emails show. Bowden argued that Verizon is likely to keep taking advantage of emergencies in order to push public safety agencies onto more expensive plans. "In light of our experience, County Fire believes it is likely that Verizon will continue to use the exigent nature of public safety emergencies and catastrophic events to coerce public agencies into higher-cost plans, ultimately paying significantly more for mission-critical service—even if that means risking harm to public safety during negotiations," Bowden wrote. Update: In a statement to Ars three hours after this article was published, Verizon acknowledged that it shouldn't have continued throttling the fire department's data service after the department asked Verizon to lift the throttling restrictions. "Regardless of the plan emergency responders choose, we have a practice to remove data speed restrictions when contacted in emergency situations," Verizon's statement said. "We have done that many times, including for emergency personnel responding to these tragic fires. In this situation, we should have lifted the speed restriction when our customer reached out to us. This was a customer support mistake. We are reviewing the situation and will fix any issues going forward." Verizon also noted that the fire department purchased a data service plan that is slowed down after a data usage threshold is reached. But Verizon said it "made a mistake" in communicating with the department about the terms of the plan. "We made a mistake in how we communicated with our customer about the terms of its plan," Verizon said. "Like all customers, fire departments choose service plans that are best for them. This customer purchased a government contract plan for a high-speed wireless data allotment at a set monthly cost. Under this plan, users get an unlimited amount of data but speeds are reduced when they exceed their allotment until the next billing cycle." Verizon also said that the Santa Clara "situation has nothing to do with net neutrality or the current proceeding in court." Throttling happened after net neutrality repeal Verizon's throttling was described in fire department emails beginning June 29 of this year, just weeks after the FCC's repeal of net neutrality rules took effect. Even when net neutrality rules were in place, all major carriers imposed some form of throttling on unlimited plans when customers used more than a certain amount of data. They argued that it was allowed under the rules' exception for "reasonable network management." But while such throttling is generally applied only during times of network congestion, the Santa Clara Fire Department says it was throttled at all times once the device in question went over a 25GB monthly threshold.<doc-sep>Verizon will lift all data caps on public safety workers for unlimited data plans in California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii immediately after the company dramatically slowed down data speeds for Santa Clara County firefighters helping to battle the Mendocino Complex Fire. After a maelstrom of criticism, including from California State Assemblymembers who convened a hearing on the matter Friday,Verizon will allow public safety workers, including firefighters in the four states, to have unlimited data with no price increases and data slowdowns, also known as throttling, the company said in an announcement Friday. Verizon also apologized for its mishap with the Santa Clara County Fire Department, in which an employee did not remove the throttling despite requests and even suggested the department pay more for a better data plan during the fire. “In supporting first responders in the Mendocino fire, we didn’t live up to our own promise of service and performance excellence when our process failed some first responders on the line, battling a massive California wildfire,” said Verizon’s senior vice president of public sector Mike Maiorana in a statement. “For that, we are truly sorry. And we’re making every effort to ensure that it never happens again.” The removal of data caps will apply to basic public safety workers, such as firefighters, police officers, and Emergency Medical Services personnel. Verizon extended its public safety worker classification to other federal justice agencies, including the FBI, CIA and the Secret Service, according to Tami Erwin, executive vice president of operations for Verizon Wireless. However, there is a caveat to the new plan: Public safety workers would be throttled if they exceed their contractual data cap for the third consecutive month. If exceeded for the third straight month, data speeds would be reduced to 3G speeds, according to Erwin. “As an example, let’s say in the first month that you use 50 gigs of data. In the second month, you use 75 gigs of data. In the third month, you use 15 gigs of data (below the 25 GB monthly threshold), then you reset and start over,” Erwin said in an interview with International Wireless Communications Expo. “So, it’s not the sum of the three but the sequential overage three months in a row that would then trigger the speed cap… It’s really intended to provide flexibility in how public safety could support first responders, in the event that they have an overage.” However, the throttling may be waived during emergencies in the third consecutive month, Erwin said. Erwin also noted that the new plan had been in development for more than eight months. “This is not a reaction to Santa Clara,” said Erwin. “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’s new plan will roll out to all 50 U.S. states next week but was immediately granted for the four states bordering the Pacific Ocean as they fight separate natural disasters. Washington and California have been ravaged by wildfires this summer, and Hawaii is bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Lane, a Category 2 storm which has caused floods and landslides in the Big Island on Friday. Related Articles California Assembly plans hearing on Verizon throttling of firefighters’ data Verizon slowed Santa Clara County firefighters’ data amid Mendocino fire Verizon throttling a net neutrality issue? Firefighters, ex-FCC chairman say yes Verizon’s announcement comes before a California State Assembly committee meeting on Friday. Santa Clara County Fire Department staff, the department’s Chief Anthony Bowden and representatives from Verizon and other telecommunications companies were invited to testify at the hearing, according to Assemblymember Marc Levine, D-Marin, who co-chairs the Select Committee on Natural Disaster, Response, Recovery and Rebuilding. “We need to know why they were throttled, why it continued and why it was not resolved,” said Levine to this news organization on Thursday. “The Mendocino Complex Fire was not a fire drill. This was unforgivable.”<doc-sep>
Verizon Wireless on Friday said it will immediately stop imposing data speed restrictions on first responders throughout the West Coast and Hawaii after facing intense criticism for reducing service to firefighters battling California’s largest-ever wildfire. The telecommunication giant also said it will move forward in the coming weeks on a plan that will feature unlimited data without restrictions for public safety officials. The announcement comes in a summer of epic fires in California and as Hawaii is grappling with torrential rainfall, flooding and power outages stemming from Hurricane Lane. Verizon’s plan, which was discussed among state Assembly members during a committee meeting on Friday, was made public on the heels of revelations that the company slowed the speed of Santa Clara County firefighters’ data as they helped battle the massive Mendocino Complex fire in July. The incident grabbed headlines and sparked outrage this week when Santa Clara County Fire Chief Anthony Bowden chronicled the incident in an addendum to a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of net neutrality rules. “This was not a fire drill,” Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) said during the Natural Disaster Response, Recovery, and Rebuilding committee meeting on Friday. “I think we were all surprised that such an incident could occur. I’m grateful that Verizon has recognized they need to change the way they do business.” Dave Hickey, Verizon vice president of business and government sales, told lawmakers that the company would roll out a new $37.99 service plan for public safety personnel that will feature unlimited data with no caps and will automatically give them priority access on congested networks. The company also will remove throttling — which he referred to as speed-capping — for emergency responders during future natural disasters that may occur nationwide, Hickey said. Verizon officials said this week that Santa Clara County Fire Department’s plan featured unlimited high-speed wireless data, but data speeds were reduced when the agency reached a specific threshold, as is customary on their service plans. However, the company has a practice to remove data speed restrictions for emergency responders — regardless of the plan they have chosen — in emergency situations. Verizon called the situation a “customer support mistake” and has apologized. “In supporting first responders in the Mendocino fire, we didn’t live up to our own promise of service and performance excellence when our process failed some first responders on the line, battling a massive California wildfire,” Mike Maiorana, Verizon senior vice president of public sector, said in a statement. “For that, we are truly sorry. And we’re making every effort to ensure that it never happens again.” Bowden wrote in the addendum to the lawsuit that the data-slowing during the Mendocino Complex fire specifically hampered OES 5262, a department command vehicle that acts as a mobile emergency operations center and requires “near-real-time information exchange” to coordinate resources and staff during emergencies like large wildfires. “Dated or stale information regarding the availability or need for resources can slow response times and render them far less effective,” Bowden wrote. “Resources could be deployed to the wrong fire, the wrong part of the fire, or fail to be deployed at all. Even small delays in response translate into devastating effects, including loss of property, and, in some cases, loss of life.” Fire crews that worked in the command vehicle faced email delays and challenges updating web-based documents with critical information about deployment because of the data-slowing, which impeded their ability to communicate with one another, fire officials said. Assemblywoman Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) said she’s eager to hear how other internet service providers plan to tackle this issue, opening the door for further discussions. Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) was concise in her request. “I’m not going to point fingers, but I don’t want this to happen again,” she said. hannah.fry@latimes.com Twitter: @Hannahnfry