Kathleen Grillo

Senior Vice President

Federal Regulatory Affairs



1300 I Street, NW, Suite 400 West
Washington, DC 20005

Phone 202 515-2533
Fax 202 336-7858
kathleen.m.grillo@verizon.com
August 1, 2014

The Honorable Thomas Wheeler
Chairman
Federal Communications Commission
445 12
th
Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20554

Dear Chairman Wheeler:
I am writing in response to your July 30 letter to Dan Mead, in which you inquired about
Verizon Wireless network optimization policy as it will apply to 4G LTE customers.
This policy, which was implemented nearly three years ago to manage congestion at
specific cell sites on our 3G network, is narrowly tailored to apply (1) only at particular cell sites
experiencing unusually high demand; (2) only for the duration of that high demand; and (3) only
to a very small percentage of customers who are heavy data users and are on plans that do not
limit the amount of data they may use during the month without incurring added data charges
(and otherwise have no incentive to limit usage during times of unusually high demand) and
then only when the particular cell site serving those customers is subject to unusually high
demand.
Our goal with our network optimization policy has always been to manage the shared and
finite network resources in a manner that best serves our customers. We believe that the network
optimization practice, which has already served our customers well on our 3G network for nearly
three years, is a narrowly tailored and appropriately targeted practice that does just that. At the
time that we implemented this network management practice, we disclosed it to our customers,
reviewed it in detail with your agency, and discussed it with consumer and other interested third
party groups. It is similar to, though in some cases more targeted than, network management
practices commonly used throughout the industry. And it closely tracks the type of tailored
network management practices that the Commission has endorsed as reasonable. In short, this
practice has been widely accepted with little or no controversy.
The Commission Has Recognized the Reasonableness of this Form of Network
Management. The type of network optimization policy that we follow has been endorsed by the
FCC as a narrowly targeted way to ensure a fair allocation of capacity during times of
congestion. In the Open Internet Order, the Commission endorsed precisely this type of
practice, using wireline cable modem service as an example:
Chairman Wheeler
August 1, 2014
Page 2



Numerous commenters support permitting the use of reasonable network management
practices to address the effects of congestion, and we agree that congestion management
may be a legitimate network management practice. For example, broadband providers
may need to take reasonable steps to ensure that heavy users do not crowd out others....
For example, if cable modem subscribers in a particular neighborhood are experiencing
congestion, it may be reasonable for a broadband provider to temporarily limit the
bandwidth available to individual end users in that neighborhood who are using a
substantially disproportionate amount of bandwidth.
1

Such Practices Are Widely Used Throughout the Industry and Have Been Widely
Accepted. Since the time of the FCCs Open Internet Order, this type of network management
practice has become a widely accepted and widely adopted industry practice to manage
congestion. For example, at the time we announced our policy, a Free Press official was quoted
as saying that his first reaction is that it does not appear to be a form of discrimination that
would trigger the rules, while Media Access Project similarly acknowledged that the practice
was consistent with the rules.
2

Similar practices are employed by competitors throughout the industry, sometimes in a
less tailored manner:
Sprint: To more fairly allocate network resources in times of congestion, customers
falling within the top 5% of data users may be prioritized below other customers attempting to
access network resources, resulting in a reduction of throughput or speed as compared to
performance on non-congested sites.
i
Open Internet Information,
http://www.sprint.com/legal/open_internet_information.html.
AT&T: [C]ustomers on a 3G or 4G smartphone with an unlimited data plan who have
exceeded 3 gigabytes of data in a billing period may experience reduced speeds when using data
services at times and in areas that are experiencing network congestion. Customers on a 4G LTE
smartphone will experience reduced speeds once their usage in a billing cycle exceeds 5
gigabytes of data. Info for Smartphone Customers with Legacy Unlimited Data Plans,
http://www.att.com/esupport/datausage.jsp?source=IZDUel1160000000U.
T-Mobile: Regardless of whether customers are at a location experiencing congestion:
[W]e may take certain steps with our network, including, but not limited to, temporarily
reducing data throughput for a subset of customers who use a disproportionate amount of
network resources. In addition, if your total usage exceeds 5GB or the amount specified in
your Data Plan, during a billing cycle, we may reduce your data speed for the remainder of that
billing cycle. T-Mobile Terms &Conditions (Effective, March 27, 2014), http://www.t-
mobile.com/Templates/Popup.aspx?PAsset=Ftr_Ftr_TermsAndConditions&print=true.

1
Preserving the Open Internet; Broadband Industry Practices, Report and Order, 25 FCC Rcd
17905, 91 (2010) (Open Internet Order).

2
Verizon Wireless: Heavy Data Users Subject to Reduced Throughput, TR Daily. Feb. 4,
2011.

Chairman Wheeler
August 1, 2014
Page 3



Managing our 4G LTE to Ensure the Best Wireless Experience. While the network
optimization policy has long been applied to customers on our 3G network, we recently began
notifying our customers that we will apply this policy on our 4G LTE network beginning in
October.
3
We are providing this notice several months in advance to be open and transparent
with our customers about network management practices that could affect their service. Of
course, this is only one of the steps we are taking to ensure that, as data usage on our networks
continues to grow, our customers continue to receive the superior service that they have come to
expect from us. For example, as you know, we also continue to invest billions of dollars
annually in our network and have recently deployed additional spectrum that is powering our
XLTE initiative.
As noted above, our goal with our network optimization policy is to manage the shared
and finite network resources in a manner that best serves our customers. The vast majority of
our subscribers including those on unlimited plans will not be affected by this practice,
except to the extent that their services may work better than they otherwise may during times of
high demand. While this narrow practice will only be applied to customers on plans that do not
limit the amount of data they can use in a month without incurring added data charges (and then
only when those customers are on cell sites subject to high demand), that reflects the fact that a
small percentage of the customers on these plans use disproportionately large amounts of data,
and, unlike subscribers on usage-based plans, they have no incentive not to do so during times of
unusually high demand. Rather than an effort to enhance [our] revenue streams, our practice is
a measured and fair step to ensure that this small group of customers do not disadvantage all
others in the sharing of network resources during times of high demand. And except for the
times when these heavy users are connected to a cell site that is currently experiencing high
demand, they too will to continue to get all of the speeds that the 4G LTE network is capable of
providing and will not be limited in the total amount of data they can use during a month.
Below are the answers to the specific questions you have posed:
1. What is your rationale for treating customers differently based on the type of data
plan to which they subscribe, rather than network architecture or technological
factors? In particular, please explain your statement that, If youre on an unlimited
data plan and are concerned that you are in the top 5% of data users, you can switch
to a usage-based plan as customers on usage-based plans are not impacted.
The rationale is to provide the best possible network experience for customers, given the
realities that network resources are finite and shared and that occasional states of unusually high
demand on particular cell sites are unavoidable in the case of wireless networks. We also know
that a very small percentage of customers are extremely heavy users who use a disproportionate
amount of network resources and have an out-sized effect on the network. Not surprisingly,
many of these heaviest users of the network are on unlimited data plans.
Under these circumstances, we believe that it serves our subscribers as a whole better if
these heavy users are temporarily slowed to allow more of the shared and in-demand capacity to
be available for other users of the network during times when a particular cell site is subject to

3
See Tom Pica, Ensuring the Optimal Wireless Experience, Verizon Wireless News Center
(July 25, 2014), http://www.verizonwireless.com/news/article/2014/07/network-optimization.html.
Chairman Wheeler
August 1, 2014
Page 4



heavy demand. These heavy users can continue to access the network and use their service, even
during these times of heavy demand. And as soon the customer moves to a cell site not
experiencing high demand or when the demand abates, he or she will continue to get the same
speeds as everyone else.
As your question notes, this Network Optimization practice does not apply to customers
on usage-based plans. Such customers have incentives to moderate their usage that customers on
unlimited data plans do not, and such customers are less likely to engage in the forms of
extremely heavy usage that we see from customers on unlimited data plans. Our statement
quoted above informs customers of the differences among plans and the options available to
them.
2. Why is Verizon Wireless extending speed reductions from its 3G network to its much
more efficient 4G LTE network?
Verizon Wireless is focused on ensuring that our 4G LTE network is robust, and operates
efficiently. We continually invest and add capacity to this network. In fact, we have doubled the
capacity available for 4G LTE customers in many parts of the country over recent months
through our XLTE initiative. As a result, independent testing consistently confirms that Verizon
Wireless has the largest and most reliable wireless network.
While our 4G LTE network has great advantages over 3G or earlier technologies, the
networks capacity remains a shared and limited resource that we must manage to provide the
best network experience for all of our customers. Even in a 4G LTE environment, at certain
times high demand can affect the performance of particular cell sites. When that happens, we
believe that the best experience for the most subscribers is possible through the use of narrow
and targeted practices such as network optimization.
3. How does Verizon Wireless justify this policy consistent with its continuing
obligations under the 700 MHz C Block open platform rules, under which Verizon
Wireless may not deny, limit, or restrict the ability of end users to download and
utilize applications of their choosing on the C Block networks; how can this conduct
be justified under the Commissions 2010 Open Internet rules, including the
transparency rule that remains in effect?
Network optimization is a form of reasonable network management that is consistent
with both the C Block rules and the Commissions 2010 Open Internet rules. The Open Internet
Order and the 700 MHz C Block Order both recognize the continuing need to engage in
reasonable network management practices, and, as noted above, the FCC has expressly endorsed
the type of targeted congestion management practice that we employ as a form or reasonable
network management.
4
Providers throughout the industry have employed similar (and often less
tailored) versions of this same practice.

4
See Open Internet Order, 91 (quoted above); Service Rules for the 698-746, 747-762 and 777-
792 MHz Bands, Second Report and Order, 22 FCC Rcd 15,289, 206 (2007) (Specifically, a C Block
licensee may not block, degrade, or interfere with the ability of end users to download and utilize
applications of their choosing on the licensees C Block network, subject to reasonable network
management.) (emphasis added).
Chairman Wheeler
August 1, 2014
Page 5



With network optimization, our customers continue to be free to go where they want on
the Internet and to use the applications, services and devices of their choice. Although the policy
may result in slowed throughput under the very limited circumstances described above, neither
the C Block rules nor the Open Internet rules requires any particular minimum speeds, so long as
providers are transparent with their customers. And here, Verizon Wireless is clearly apprising
our customers of that under certain circumstances, the speeds of a few heavy users may be
temporarily slowed at congested cell sited in order to provider a great wireless experience to all
of our customers.
Sincerely,