Friday, August 24, 2018

Verizon: No internet speed restrictions for West Coast first responders

Verizon: No internet speed restrictions for West Coast first responders

Informational hearing scheduled Friday at state Capitol

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A nationwide telecommunications company that slowed internet service to firefighters as they battled the largest wildfire in California history says it has removed all speed cap restrictions for first responders on the West Coast.

Verizon Senior Vice President Mike Maiorana says the service restrictions were removed as of Thursday and include Hawaii, where emergency crews have rescued people from areas flooded by Hurricane Lane.

"In supporting first responders in the Mendocino fire, we didn’t live up to our own promise of service and performance excellence when our process failed some first responders on the line, battling a massive California wildfire," Maiorana said. "For that, we are truly sorry. And we’re making every effort to ensure that it never happens again."

Maiorana says that from now on Verizon will lift restrictions and provide full network access to first responders during disasters.

"We’ve been working closely with mission critical first responders to refine our service plan to better meet their unique needs," Maiorana said. "As a result, we’re introducing a new plan that will feature unlimited data, with no caps on mobile solutions and automatically includes priority access. We’ll provide full details when we introduce the plan next week, and we will make it easy to upgrade service at no additional cost."

The Santa Clara County Fire Department says in a lawsuit that Verizon slowed its internet communications at a Northern California wildfire command center three weeks ago.

California lawmakers are holding an informational hearing Friday at the state Capitol to discuss what happened.


Source: https://www.kcra.com/article/verizon-no-internet-speed-restrictions-for-west-coast-first-responders/22823971

No comments:

Post a Comment

CAL FIRE NEWS LOVES COMMENTS...
- Due to rampant abuse, we are no longer posting anonymous comments. Please use your real OpenID, Google, Yahoo, AIM, Twitter, Flickr name.


Twitter Buttons

****REMINDER**** Every fire has the ability to be catastrophic. The wildland fire management environment has profoundly changed. Growing numbers of communities, across the nation, are experiencing longer fire seasons; more frequent, bigger, and more severe, fires are a real threat. Be careful with all campfires and equipment.

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer." --Abraham Lincoln

View blog top tags
---------------------
CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO TOP OF CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS HOME PAGE

Subscribe via email to California Fire News - Keep track of Cal Fire News

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner