Cellcos Cracking Down On Heavy 3G Users

http://www.techweb.com/wire/mobile/187202664;jsessionid=WFBJJ4KXZ5D3OQSNDBGCKHSCJUMEKJVN

Cellcos Cracking Down On Heavy 3G Users: Report
By David Haskin, TechWeb News
May 12, 2006 (1:17 PM EDT)
URL: http://www.techweb.com/wire/187202664


Cellular operators may advertise that they are offering "unlimited" 3G cellular data service, but they apparently don't mean it.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Verizon Wireless has been sending out service cancellation notices to high-speed EV-DO cellular data customers who the operator claims over-use the service. The Journal also reported that Sprint and Cingular are assessing additional fees to heavy 3G users.

The Journal quoted a Verizon executive as saying that it is only taking action against those who use "thousands of times the average" amount of network capacity.

A spokesperson for Verizon Wireless said confirmed Friday afternoon that the company is concerned about the issue but has yet to terminate anybody.

"We've notified about 100 people or so, but we haven't terminated anybody yet," the spokesperson said. She said that, typically, abusers use a cellular router to spread the connection to multiple people. However, she added that a number of applications, including voice-over-IP, are expressly prohibited by the user agreement because of how much bandwidth they use.

The issue was reported by several TechWeb sites last November, but the Journal indicated that cut-offs, warnings and additional charges are now becoming more common by the cellular operators, who fear heavy users will slow down the entire network. The usage agreement between the operators and users gives the operators the right to take such action, even though the cellular operators often advertise the service as providing "unlimited" access.

"They market it in such a way that you would think it's Internet-on-the-go, then they start piling on restrictions," the Wall Street Journal quoted a Sprint 3G user as saying. "What they want you to do is just basically surf the Internet and nothing else."