Verizon Bans P2P, Streaming Services and Online Gaming.
Written by enigmax on April 04, 2007They say that the devil is in the detail and to always read the small print. Well, if your ISP happens to be Verizon and you’re on the EVDO Wireless Data Service, this is great advice. Read their Terms of Service and you will see; P2P is banned, as are streaming services such as YouTube. And the ‘Unlimited’ transfers you were paying for? Forget those too, 5gig a month is the limit.
Verizon customers on the EVDO Wireless Data Service are in for a surprise if they read the Terms of Service (TOS)
The Unlimited Data Plan is - yes, thats right limited to 5gigs of transfers each month but don’t worry, you won’t need anywhere near that amount because your internet multimedia experience is about to be ruined by the banning of your favourite activities;
There is to be no continuous uploading nor downloading, no streaming (that means no YouTube for you to enjoy and no internet radio) and no playing games either, they’re banned too. No P2P is allowed whatsoever.
If you get caught going over your ‘Unlimited’ service’s cap of 5gig in one month, Verizon say that you will be “presumed to be using the service in a manner prohibited above, and we reserve the right to immediately terminate the service of any such person without notice”
So what is allowed then? Well Verizon says that you may still check your email and browse the Internet.
Have fun!
Verizon EVDO TOS
Unlimited Data Plans and Features may ONLY be used with wireless devices for the following purposes:
(i) Internet browsing;
(ii) email; and
(iii) intranet access
The Unlimited Data Plans and Features MAY NOT be used for any other purpose. Examples of prohibited uses include, without limitation, the following:
(i) continuous uploading, downloading or streaming of audio or video programming or games;
(ii) server devices or host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, automated machine–to–machine connections or peer–to–peer (P2P) file sharing; or
(iii) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections.
A person engaged in prohibited uses, continuously for one hour, could typically use 100 to 200 MBs, or, if engaged in prohibited uses for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, could use more than 5 GBs in a month. Anyone using more than 5 GB per line in a given month is presumed to be using the service in a manner prohibited above, and we reserve the right to immediately terminate the service of any such person without notice. We also reserve the right to terminate service upon expiration of Customer Agreement term.
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59 Responses
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That’s… Despicable
This is old news…
True, this was already in the TOS, they now added the bandwidth cap though.
Unbelievable.
I use 10gb p/month just on browsing.
Are these people US based?
where is this rubbish company?
will anyone use their service? for me, even if i dont use Internet, i wont use their services…
ernesto, are you sure they don’t mean “point zero zero five TB” instead of GB? :P
and if their TOS allow “downloading legally acquired songs” , what about the 3GB torrent from this texas thingy torrentfreak featured a while back; totally legal songs, and if you use Bitthief… ;-)
I don’t know what to say. Verizon’s move on this is out of wack, stupid, and extremely unreasonable.
I’m extremely satisfied with my ISP, 60gb total (30 up 30 down) per month.
They better change their plans or they will lose alot of customers and be cutting alot from the net.
What ISP?
Yes, this is in the States.
First off, it’s there service they can limit it how they see fit.
Second, this their Wireless Internet Service, it goes over the Wireless network that your cell phone uses, not their DSL service. You really shouldn’t be using a Wireless service like that for any of those activities anyways plus the speed isn’t much better then Dial-up in areas that are not in a big city or close to one.
i can again say this is true, i worked for bestbuy and the verizon people have no response to this other than poor attempts to deflect the question
Skins…a big fat bullshit on your statement. I mean, sure…you have NO life outside the internet which is sad, but you still don’t use 10 Gig just on browsing. It is impossible. Even for someone who never leaves their mommy’s basement to socialize…or maybe even have a GIRLFRIEND! (GASP!)
Geez.. this is just their answer to the fact their basically losing in the Net Neutrality battle…
Is Sprint the only decent-speed EVDO service that isn’t capped? You can’t even do VPN over Verizon. I wouldn’t go back to verizon if they were the last company on earth.
While it all sounds bad, brownsing youtube for “10 hours a day, 7 days a week” all month is more than enough than i would ever need on an EVDO enabled wireless device. I guess it sucks if you’re using an EVDO card on a laptop for wifi, but if its on a cellphone then it should be fine.
Give me a freaking Break, Like there are not allready enough rules in this damn country, No I am being told what I can and cant to by my internet provider. Go suck a big one Verizon!!!!!Oh and your wireless blows as well!!!
They might as well call it wireless 56K. Why becuase you really can’t game , stream, or use P2P with 56K you can really only surf the web and read your mail.
Good thing I don’t use Verizon. Canada FTW! :)
[quote comment="79410"]Unbelievable.
I use 10gb p/month just on browsing.
Are these people US based?[/quote]
i use around 10gb per day .. how the heck can a verizon user survive ?
The summary of the TOS of service isn’t very accurate. I did research on this for several customers who have accounts with Verizon. I went as far as to speak with some of their network engineers who understood the TOS correctly.
Althought the bandwidth cap is 5 GB, they do not outright ban things like YouTube. For example, YouTube is a form of streaming, but it is not continous. When you load up a video it downloads and that’s it. Verizon does not block your ability to stream music, video or anything else. I do believe they block the ports for VoIP (this never came up) but VPN access is allowed. The only limitation is that you stay within their agreements such as not downloading more than 200 MB/hr.
Do I like the service? Yes, it’s fast. Do I use the service? No, Spring offers the same speeds with less restrictions and for a slightly cheaper price.
My ISP gives me 24Mbit/s down and 1Mbit/s down. That totals:
- 60 TB download per month
- 2.5 TB upload per month
I love Sweden! FUCK USA ISPs
“You really shouldn’t be using a Wireless service like that for any of those activities”…?
I’m in Manila, Philippines right now, using wireless broadband. Bandwidth is not that big, but I’m clocking my P2P sharing at 1MB per minute or 60MB’s per hour. That’s aside from the occasional chat / email / browse I do. And NO ISP here has a service cap! haha :p
@ Adam: Yes, ADSL2+ rocks! ;)
I use Verizon EVDO and haven’t had any problems at all.. I use it on my phone, as well as connecting to my laptop via bluetooth and using it as a wireless modem.. I’ve checked out YouTube, and just now even went to ABC.com and watched the first 5 minutes of a show using it. That would seem like continuous streaming to me… We’ll see if they can my service..
As to others that are talking about their bandwidth up and down, you don’t realize that this is speaking of wireless internet for mobile devices (mobile phones, pda’s, and some PCMCIA cards), this isn’t Verizon’s home internet plans (FIOS, which i also have and love, and DSL). This also isn’t a part of any neighborhood/city wide wireless internet services.
And I agree with the others, if you’re hitting more than 5 Gigabits per month, you’re doing something crazy with your mobile device. To use 5 Gb/month would mean that you would need to be transferring about 400b every second of the entire month. 400b isn’t very much, but to average that on a mobile device the entire month is a tremendous amount.
Hey Adam, my ISP gives me 30 Mbit/s down – 5 Mbit/s up, and I live in the USA.
So…fuck swedish ISPs I guess.
^^ you wont be saying that when the MIAA/RIAA come knocking on your door.
They have no powers in Sweden.
Ha,
You know, theres a lot to be said for cable, my ISP is Virgin Media/Telewest/NTL, I have completely unlimited service and have had this for years, no limits whatsoever, I can download what I like. I am on 10mb atm which gives me roughly 1.2mb per second at top download speed, soon this speed will rise :D
I wouldn’t use a wireless system anyways, too open to abuse
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