Verizon Throttling Of CA Fire Vehicle's Data Speed Was 'Mistake'

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — Santa Clara County accused Verizon this week of throttling the internet connection of a Santa Clara County Fire Department vehicle while it was deployed to the Mendocino Complex Fire — the largest fire in California history. The allegations against Verizon came in a brief filed by the county Monday in ongoing federal litigation over net neutrality.

Included in the brief was a declaration written and signed by Santa Clara County fire Chief Anthony Bowden describing how during the midst of the county's response to the Mendo Complex Fire it was discovered that the data connection for the county's OES — Office of Emergency Services — vehicle no. 5262 was being throttled by the county's provider, Verizon.

At the time of the discovery, OES 5262 was coordinating all government response to the Northern California wildfire, which includes the use of Google sheets and specialized software requiring an internet connection. Data rates for the vehicle were reduced to 1/200 or less than the previous speed, which according to Bowden, "severely interfered with the OES 5262's ability to function effectively."

"This throttling has had a significant impact on our ability to provide emergency services," Bowden wrote. "Verizon imposed these limitations despite being informed that throttling was actively impeding County Fire’s ability to provide crisis-response and essential emergency services."

• Largest Wildfire In CA History Nearing 400,000 Acres

Email correspondence between IT staff for the fire department and Verizon regarding the matter were included in the brief.

In a statement, Verizon admitted the company made a "customer support mistake," but said the situation with Santa Clara County Fire "has nothing to do with net neutrality or the current proceeding in court."

"We made a mistake in how we communicated with our customer about the terms of its plan," Verizon Spokeswoman Heidi Flato said in a statement. "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. Regardless of the plan emergency responders choose, we have a practice to remove data speed restrictions when contacted in emergency situations. 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."

Santa Clara County counsel James Williams said in response that "Verizon’s throttling has everything to do with net neutrality — it shows that the ISPs will act in their economic interests, even at the expense of public safety."

"That is exactly what the Trump Administration’s repeal of Net Neutrality allows and encourages," Williams said. "In repealing Net Neutrality rules, the Trump Administration failed to consider public safety threats as required by law. For this reason alone, the repeal of Net Neutrality is illegal and must be overturned."

In filing the brief, Santa Clara County joined 22 states and the California Public Utilities Commission in support of net neutrality and open internet.

Photo of Mendocino Complex Fire command center by Al Francis/Napasonomaphotos.com