State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Verizon agrees to stop throttling first responder data plans

StateScoop: Verizon said Friday it will no longer impose data limits on the mobile phones and other internet-connected devices used by firefighters and other emergency personnel responding to a disaster, just days after the company was revealed to have cut off service to members of a fire department battling the biggest wildfire in California history.

"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," Mike Maiorana, Verizon's senior vice president for its public sector business, said in a statement posted on the company's website. "For that, we are truly sorry. And we’re making every effort to ensure that it never happens again."

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