Verizon stopped throttling 3G data when net neutrality rules took effect

In 2014, Verizon Wireless announced that it would begin throttling 4G LTE service for users on unlimited data plans, using the same policy it already applied to its slower 3G network. Verizon caved after criticism from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, so the 4G throttling never went into effect. However, Verizon kept right on throttling its 3G customers. That finally changed in June.

"Beginning in 2011, to optimize our network, we managed data connection speeds for a small subset of customers -- those who are in the top five percent of data users and have 3G devices on unlimited data plans -- and only in places and at times when the network was experiencing high demand. We discontinued this practice in June 2015," Verizon now says on its website. The change in June occurred in the same month that the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality rules against throttling took effect. Though carriers could argue that some throttling is allowable under an exception for "reasonable network management," Sprint stopped throttling its heaviest users just in case.