While we may have near “unlimited” internet at home, there are many isp data plans that have a data cap. A data cap is a limiter placed by the ISP to limit the amount of data your network can essentially upload and download at a given time frame(usually on a month to month basis). Customers can choose between plans that have data caps and others that are “unlimited”. The typical data cap I have found is about 1 terabyte(TB) for some of the more common ISP.
In perspective, 1 TB of data is about:
- 330 hours of streaming Netflix in 1080p (3GB per hour)
- 8,000 hours of high-quality audio streaming (125MB per hour)
- 22,222 hours of a skype call (45MB per hour)
- 3,333 to 333,000 hours of “gaming” (3MB to 300MB per hour)
Note that most of the data limits examples are not physically or mentally possible for a single individual to use in a month.
Our mobile devices are a bit different. Many of the ISP’s for our phones are tied to our phone plan altogether. The number of individuals with mobile internet access has skyrocketed in the last 10 years and about 10% of adults reported that their cell phones are their own access to the internet. Many mobile service companies provide some sort of “Unlimited data plan” for their customers and while I’m sure we all read the extra fine print on the contracts, most plans have a “Bandwidth limit”, but you still have the “internet” after you have reached the limit but it will be at an adjusted speed.
Data throttling (bandwidth throttling) in the intentional slowing of the internet service by an internet service provider (ISP). Companies will have different data plans, and depending on what you choose to purchase, it will usually either throttle your data, outright cut you off, or charge you additional fees for their bandwidth (usually an outrageous price).
I understand to a certain degree that theses ISP, at their core, is a business and like most business, revenue is one of their top priorities. In many locations, there are only a few ISPs’ available we must play their game if we want their services. For larger ISPs’, the idea of having different data plans is not to manage the congestion of all of their users and the bandwidth they provide, it is strictly a business reason.
As mentioned in a leaked memo for their customer service representatives, form a certain ISP, it is stated that :
Do say: "Fairness and providing a more flexible policy to our customers."Don't say: "The program is about congestion management." (It is not.)
It seems clear that it is a way to provide more flexible policies and options for the customers but in no way is it to manage network congestion during peak hours, because “It is not.”
So the major reason I dove into the entire idea of data throttling, is how they can affect emergency situations. Public agencies, such as the fire department and emergency medical services agencies, also relies on having access to the internet for their line of work. I am not referring to their personal devices, but rather their mobile devices that are used to save lives and coordinate emergency services each day.
There was an article in Arstechnica by Jon Brodkin “Verizon throttled fire department’s “unlimited” data during Calif. Wildfire”, where data limits hindered the effectiveness of the Santa Clara fire department. During the Mendocino Complex fire in the summer of 2017, a fire department vehicle that was “deployed to large incidents as a commander and control resources 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.” During this time, their internet accesses (through a SIM) was throttled to about 1/200th (from 50Mbps to about 300kbps) of their normal speed/paid for speed. After the fire department contacted the ISP to remove the speed limits, they were told that they had to pay more for a higher service plan. It is quite sad and petty that a billion dollar corporation would fight with a client over what is literally a few dollars during emergency situations. They needed to move from their “$37.99 plan to a $39.99 plan to get the data speeds restored on this device.” It was also suggested that the fire department upgrades to a $99.99 a month plan, which would give the device a whopping 20GB and “small” fee of $8.00 per gigabyte after.
The questions that really comes to mind is, why is there even a data cap for any emergency service response agencies to begin with? Researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology’s Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences are in the process of developing a network strictly for emergency response services. Perhaps this is the best route… for the future for the emergency responses agencies.