AfterDawn: News

Verizon to restrict video downloads, download speeds as iPhone launches

Verizon Wireless has confirmed today that it will be "preventing users from downloading entire videos at once to help ease capacity burdens on the network," thanks to the launch of the iPhone.

Additionally, the carrier will "eliminate some colors and other data from videos that it deems to be not visible to the human eye. The loss of information from the input file may result in reduced color accuracy and sharpness."



Furthermore, the top 5 percent of downloaders in metro areas like San Francisco and Manhattan will have their speeds throttled, to avoid "jamming" the network.

The carrier says it will throttle speeds only at "specific high-traffic times of the day."

New customers, or anyone renewing as of today will be affected by the limitations, meaning all future iPhone users.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 3 Feb 2011 18:20

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• 11 comments

• bobiroc

  Doesn't show much confidence for the Verizon Network now does it?
  

  AMD Phenom II 965 @ 3.6Ghz, 8GB DDR3, ATI Radeon 5770HD, 300GB 10,000RPM Raptor, 2TB Additional HDD, Windows 7 Ultimate.

  3.2.2011 18:31 #1

• skeil909

  And they want how much per month for that service? I'll pass. Thanks anyhow.
  

  3.2.2011 20:00 #2

• cyprusrom

  Just a while ago I remember everyone bitching at ATT, and how crappy it was, how crappy GSM was...now we see the true Verizon colours.

  3.2.2011 20:33 #3

• KillerBug

  No grandfathering? Looks like this is my last verizon phone; if I wanted att style bs, I would be on att.

  3.2.2011 21:43 #4

• spartybob

  Am I crazy to think my next phone should just be used to make phone calls.

  3.2.2011 22:16 #5

• KillerBug

  Originally posted by spartybob: Am I crazy to think my next phone should just be used to make phone calls. Yes, you are crazy. Smart phones are changing our society, as well as our minds. They make us more powerful by allowing us to delegate many tasks to a device, and thus have more mental room to focus on the things that actually matter. Of course, there are certain fears that come with such changes, and they are not completely without merit...but Pandora has already left the box; and now it is just keep up or get left behind.
  
  The networks are freaking out because they are not meeting their 500% profit margin goals, so they are trying to stop the revolution they have created...but it is too late, and they really don't understand their near-future customers; they are all still in the phone mindset; still thinking that the internet is an add-on for the phone plan, and not vice-versa. This is going to hurt some of them bad when people start to dump their cell phones in favor of small WiMax/LTE/Pre-4G tablets with VoIP calling. They will react with outright insanity, and alienate their next-gen customers.
  

  4.2.2011 00:04 #6

• POGK

  Sweet! With my $130/mo plan I have unlimited data that is capable of downloading portions of movies that will be blurry and in black and white during certain times of the day. I renewing TODAY! WTF Verizon? Kill your key smart phone market (Android) in order to increase your profits by selling iPhones while giving customers the "AT&T" data experience.

  4.2.2011 13:30 #7

• ZeusAV

  So people will be paying $120+ for inferior data service? Way to go Verizon.

  4.2.2011 23:32 #8

• Pop_Smith

  Originally posted by bobiroc: Doesn't show much confidence for the Verizon Network now does it? Actually, it shows me that 5% of users use an extremely disproportionate amount of bandwidth, possibly enough to slow the entire network (in their area) down. Throttling them to keep the network fast for the other 95% of their customers makes smart business sense to me.
  
  If they throttled everyone's speed 24/7 that would show their network isn't as good as they claim.
  

  http://www.megavideo.com/?v=V1VZAD0O <-- Brian Regan "Take Luck" video.
  
  "The only people who should buy Monster cable are people who light cigars with Benjamins." - Gizmodo

  5.2.2011 01:08 #9

• salsa36

  I can't believe it!!!!
  We talked sooo much crap against AT&T and after all Verizon is as crappy or worst.
  An I remember a post here in that an AT&T rep laughed at Verizon and said that this was going to happen.

  5.2.2011 07:54 #10

• bobiroc

  Originally posted by Pop_Smith: Originally posted by bobiroc: Doesn't show much confidence for the Verizon Network now does it? Actually, it shows me that 5% of users use an extremely disproportionate amount of bandwidth, possibly enough to slow the entire network (in their area) down. Throttling them to keep the network fast for the other 95% of their customers makes smart business sense to me.
  
  If they throttled everyone's speed 24/7 that would show their network isn't as good as they claim. And here I thought it was AT&T's crappy network that was the problem and now it is that iPhone users allegedly use more bandwidth than other smartphones? Hmm. Which is it?
  

  AMD Phenom II 965 @ 3.6Ghz, 8GB DDR3, ATI Radeon 5770HD, 300GB 10,000RPM Raptor, 2TB Additional HDD, Windows 7 Ultimate.

  5.2.2011 14:33 #11