Thread by @thetomzone

cool thing about the verizon first responder ads, they're all because california firefighters emailed them "if you dont unthrottle our internet people are going to die" and verizon told them to purchase a premium plan

Santa Clara fire chief also said he believed Verizon knew that throttling their command vehicle would interfere with fire operations as a negotiating tactic

"County Fire believes it is likely that Verizon will continue to use the exigent nature of public safety emergencies and catastrophic events to coerce public agencies into higher-cost plans ultimately paying significantly more for mission-critical service"
gizmodo.com/verizon-thrott…

in short, an accurate verizon ad would be emergency personnel screaming over the phone while a rep says "ooh sorry I didnt get that, a little static there, would you like to upgrade your plan"

largest wildfire by area in california history at over 400,000 acres, the only good thing here is that verizon got called out before they could pull their bullshit during the camp fire months later snopes.com/fact-check/ver…

the camp fire killed at least 86 people--it's important to emphasize here that any one of these major fires could have been as deadly with bad luck/timing/things like, say, communications between first responders being totally disrupted

the important thing to keep in mind here is that this is why verizon is rich. not because they offer a uniquely good service or invented anything, but because they control the last mile of internet connectivity for huge parts of the country with no real competition