Tell HN: Eternal realm of 480p – An FCC Verizon Complaint

After a year of enduring spinning circle icons and relying on a nearby magnifying glass for seeing fine details in instructional videos, I finally said fsck it! and made an FCC complaint. I had phoned Verizon at least a half dozen times prior, inquiring of a solution to the tendency for videos to generally refuse to play in 720p.

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.