Posted on 08/22/2018 2:52:09 PM PDT by BenLurkin
“””Ever stood on a mountain top and tried to download the latest topographical fire maps on a throttled phone?”””
On the other hand ever stood on a mountain top and read the FCO’s morning paper topographical fire map without having to rely upon a smart phone?
"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," Santa Clara County Counsel James Williams told Ars Technica on Thursday. "That is exactly what the Trump Administration's repeal of net neutrality allows and encourages."
Not only that, the fire was Trump's fault, because he's led the way in promoting AGW!!! And he likes nookie, but only from women, which is sexist and cisgenderist! Thanks BenLurkin.
While I do not know the specifics of this particular situation, I can voice my experience as an individual who is very familiar with VZW in my area.
In the last two years in the Alabama and Georgia area, there was a swamp fire in south GA and a gas pipeline rupture in Alabama. Each and every time VZW provided emergency responders with emergency radio service via technology called Cell on Wheels (COW). Response to those emergencies was provided within hours.
Upgrade to what? May I ask? IMO, It’s apples and oranges.
i call BS on the fire service complaint. Bad planning on their part. I know from first hand experience from being on a fire department during a flood. Everyone is on their phones at the same time. Service goes to help due to overloading.
Hubby fought wildfires for 34 years. He used a radio and a gps that hung around his neck for location. He carried a cell after they came out but only used it for private communication. WTH? They can’t carry radios and god anymore?
Hubby retired 10 years ago. He still carried a radio and a gps. He had a cell but it was for personal communications.
Jeez, they could have used amatuer radio to send basic packets of digital information...hams have been doing this for years. It was email before email was invented.
I have a hard cap. If I exceed my cap, I pay extra per gig used. I don’t get throttled (slowed) service. That’s the way my Verizon plan works. That’s my point. Pay for the extra use, upgrade the plan as necessary, but don’t slow down data transfer.
Verizon:
“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.”
Sacramento Bee:
The court filing showed that Santa Clara was no stranger to this issue. In a series of emails included in the legal brief, Santa Clara fire officials complained to Verizon in late June, a month before the Mendocino emergency, that their data speeds were being “throttled” by the carrier. At the time, a Verizon representative told the agency that its data plan included “data throttling limitation” and he suggested a switch to a more expensive plan.
Capt. Bill Murphy, a spokesman for the Santa Clara department, said Wednesday the agency did switch prior to the Mendocino fire to a plan that allowed Verizon to “throttle” down data speeds, but not as severely as before. Murphy said firefighters figured the new plan would be sufficient to allow data to flow smoothly — but discovered otherwise when they arrived at the Mendocino fire.
And probably the most expensive radio network. Recently the idiots at our police department upgraded their radio network at the cost of million and then learned that it didn’t meet the First Responders Radio Network requirements and they had to throw those away and repurchase the radio network equipment that interfaced with the fire, ambulance, sheriff, state, etc. requirements. Why they would ever use cell phones is nuts.
See post #51.
They got the plan they desired, after counsel by their account rep.
We moved to the Pocatello area in 2000. Since then, she does police/Fire/EMS plus notary public and is the system admin for the law enforcement software for the department. Not much ham activity in the area.
Sounds like their comms/radio department is incompetent.
Sounds like their comms/radio department is incompetent. Guess they never heard of Ubiquity, Cradlepoint and other low cost capabilities.
This is BS!
NN is a government overreach and control. All the current companies, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, Google, Twitter, etc. all benefitted and became rich when NN didn’t exist and now these are the very companies lobbying for NN in order to keep new innovations and newer companies from playing in their sandbox! No to NN, my advise to the Firefigjters I’s to find I different company or pay more until a better option is available then quit Verizon. But if NN is allowed, no new companies will come into being.
I am not involved in Ecomm. There are those that do Yeoman work, like your wife and yourself, and then there are the Wackers....you know, those that want the flashing lightbar on their 93 Corolla with 72 antennas porcupining the roof and six radios hanging off the vest. Don’t forget the “Official” Amatuer Radio Operator Badge! I was going through a thread on the Zed recently and howled at all the priceless pictures. Kind of like the People of Walmart for ham radio.
There is a need for Ecomm radio and professional acting operators. They can be the only means of communication when all others fail. In this day and age of Smart Phones, we forget that whagt we assume will work at all times, does have its limitations. This is where amateur radio shines. I know that during the Santa Rosa Fire last October, cell towers burned to the ground limiting communication. Individual operators were able to simplex to each other to pass along needed information.
In the Carr Fire, I know that the Redding repeater linked to the CARLA system went down. It was back in service as soon as citizen crews were able to reach the site.
Fire crews have their radios and frequencies to communicate with command. While it is nice to email back home. It is not always feasible. Email and texting fire command needs is probably not a good idea with cell infrastructure always in danger of being renedered useless.
If you’re looking to pick fight and have some fun, try telling that to FReeper crz...
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