Tell HN: Eternal realm of 480p – An FCC Verizon Complaint
For most purposes, 480 or less is adequate. However, where small parts or fine text is a necessary part of the video, more resolution is vital. Verizon reps offered no answers other than to confirm my account was not subject to throttling and had no data cap (which I'd seldom approach anyway). Most here are probably aware that most carriers limit mobile devices to 720p, which isn't a problem for me. But when a contract states that a service tier is exempt from throttling and specifies an expected data rate, it seems reasonable that the customer would observe this both in theory and practice.
Three days after the complaint, I was contacted by an executive rep. He seemed annoyed, but was polite. Apparently there was a default option, or tick box, somewhere in the account settings which defaults video resolution to 480p or less. I took the opportunity to express the consumer's perspective on this feature, as well as my own annoyance that this was never mentioned in any of my previous conversations with customer service.
I was sent instructions for navigating the labyrinth to tick the magic "don't throttle me bro" box, but haven't done it yet because it seems it may have been done for me, as videos now seem to respect the settings I select.
There are many cans of worms to open on the subject of federal regulations and I'd rather not dare it here or now. Regardless, it is a good thing to have resources that help keep the puny consumer afloat in a sea of hostile monopolies. Thanks FCC, for this one.
4 comments
[ 4.3 ms ] story [ 17.4 ms ] threadhttps://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-233798/
It is my unwavering opinion that such settings should be accessible through the Android/Apple interface and not within the specific carrier account. As mentioned but entirely missed by the parent to your reply, multiple conversations with tech support failed to mention these settings. In my case, also as mentioned in the post, it seems Verizon decided to alter the settings on their end.
Verizon is very pushy with their proprietary blobs, eg buy a phone of any brand and a bunch of Verizon software is hard baked and cannot be removed even through ADB. And I always use ADB to clean a phone as much as possible without rooting.
If I tell the video to play in any permitted resolution, ideally the request shouldn't even require interaction with the phone's settings - it should simply serve the requested resolution provided the data rate is capable, which mine is (and more) according the the contract.
Go pick on someone else.
And for those who might be infected by the above attempt at erroneous convolution: Placing a SIM in a phone and paying the service bill is all that should be required to receive advertised service standards with any carrier. Having to apply credentials and log into to a Verizon account to seek out deliberately obfuscated options (that shouldn't exist) isn't good business. And having to make an FCC complaint to be informed of such options is also pretty ridiculous. Alas