Verizon Wireless on Wednesday announced that it is cancelling plans to throttle subscribers with grandfathered unlimited data plans. Back in July, the nation’s top carrier had said it would being slowing data speeds for the top 5% of data users in congested areas, and the new policy was set to go into effect on October 1st. According to a statement released on Wednesday afternoon — the same day throttling was set to begin — Verizon will no longer take any measures to limit data speeds.
“Verizon is committed to providing its customers with an unparalleled mobile network experience,” the company said in the statement. “At a time of ever-increasing mobile broadband data usage, we not only take pride in the way we manage our network resources, but also take seriously our responsibility to deliver exceptional mobile service to every customer. We’ve greatly valued the ongoing dialogue over the past several months concerning network optimization and we’ve decided not to move forward with the planned implementation of network optimization for 4G LTE customers on unlimited plans.”
The statement continued, “Exceptional network service will always be our priority and we remain committed to working closely with industry stakeholders to manage broadband issues so that American consumers get the world-class mobile service they expect and value.”
Federal Communications Commission chair Tom Wheeler had raised some concerns surrounding Verizon’s plans back in August, though it is unclear if the FCC’s objections had anything to do with Verizon’s decision to holster plans to throttle unlimited data users.