Earlier this week we noted how customers on "unlimited" FiOS connections have been getting this warning from Verizon, informing them they're violating their terms of service by consuming an "excessive" amount of bandwidth. If usage isn't curtailed, the notice warns, customers will see their accounts terminated within two months.
Verizon obviously wants these extremely heavy users (who consume multiple terabytes per month) to migrate to more expensive business-class connections.
The problem is that Verizon refuses to define what "excessive" is, or what level of consumption is actually acceptable. They've also stated on several occasions that there is absolutely no limit and that FiOS "doesn't cap usage in any way."
I reached to to Verizon to try and get a handle on precisely what "excessive" means, and the company made it very clear we're talking about a very small number of overall customers the company would prefer to see move to business-class.
"Business-class services are designed to meet significantly higher requirements than those utilized by residential/consumer customers," says the company. "A small number of High Speed Internet (DSL) and FiOS Internet residential service customers are consuming volumes of data every month at levels that far exceed the monthly residential service customer average for their service."
When pressed for an exact definition of "excessive," or whether this invisible threshold varies by market, Verizon would only comment in movie-related abstraction.
"FiOS Internet customers we have contacted would have to watch at least 6,660 SD movies per month or 222 SD movies per day to consume the amount of data they are using per month," Verizon tells me. "High Speed Internet customers we have contacted would have to watch at least 1000 SD movies per month or 33 SD movies per day to consume the amount of data they are using per month."
Fortunately, a Verizon insider familiar with Verizon's network management practices was willing to give me a much more specific answer. According to front-line support materials provided to Verizon reps, the company has a 10 terabyte monthly cap in place for FiOS connections, and a 1.5 terabyte monthly cap in place for DSL lines. Verizon could simply state this in the terms of service, but I assume that might mute the unlimited marketing potential of fiber in the company's fight against cable.
That doesn't explain why the subject of our original story was targeted after using "just" seven terabytes, nor does it explain why some users in our forums have received the same letter for consuming less. I imagine the cap may vary depending on market and regional congestion, another reason why Verizon may be unwilling to specifically define what the company considers to be "excessive."