While fighting the Mendocino Complex Fire in California, the Santa Clara Fire Department found that its mobile operation's wireless data had been throttled drastically by Verizon Wireless, going from approximately 50 Mbps to a mere 30kbps (slower than dial-up).
When this was brought to the attention of Verizon, they refused to lift the throttle until the fire department upgraded to a data plan costing more than double the "unlimited" service they had been subscribed to.
The Santa Clara Fire Chief, Anthony Bowden, has thoroughly condemned Verizon's actions, saying the bandwidth throttling "had a significant impact" on his firefighter's operations.
Verizon initially tried to claim the throttling was a mistake. After emails were released proving this to be a lie, they have since apologized, yet have denied that the death of net neutrality (made possible by the FCC) played any role in the incident. This is another blatant lie.
California government agencies have filed a lawsuit against the FCC over net neutrality rules. However, given the fact that net neutrality may actually save lives means it cannot be left up to a court nor to the FCC.
Luckily, California lawmakers have put forth a net neutrality bill that has been described as the strongest in the country. Senate Bill 822 heads to the Assembly floor next week for a vote.
With historic wildfires becoming the norm each summer, California firefighters cannot afford to have their data throttled. Please sign this petition to urge the California Assembly to stand up for net neautrality and pass SB 822.
