In an announcement made on Wednesday, Verizon declared that it will be abandoning its proposal to "throttle" the internet connection during peak hours. If it had not been cancelled, this scheme would have purportedly affected its clients who availed of the company's unlimited data plans.

Like Us on Facebook

The abandoned scheme, which involved slowing down the internet connection of customers during peak hours, was revealed in July this year. In accordance with Verizon's proposed strategy in coping with the demands of network traffic, the internet connection of the top five percent of its data users who subscribed to the company's unlimited plan offers will be regulated during the busiest hours.

The policy was dubbed by Verizon as the "Network Optimization" plan, which could potentially eliminate the problem of congestion in the network. Consequently, the result of this strategy could bring about better service for all the users.

In addition, Verizon asserted that the plan would not necessarily implement "throttling" as alleged by critics of the scheme. Rather, the new policy is merely aimed to decrease the speed of data download during peak hours. The reduced speed will not be implemented through the bill cycle. Moreover, Verizon earlier advised users who want to avert getting affected by the new plan to use a usage-based data plan instead.

The policy, which aimed to disrupt the internet usage of the company's users, had been questioned by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). As a response to the outrage from Verizon's users, the agency required the telecom giant to provide an explanation to justify their proposed scheme.

 FCC chairman Tom Wheeler disclosed that they are analyzing the possibility of implementing net neutrality rules to wireless networks should Verizon go on with its new scheme, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

A report from the Washington Post stated that Wheeler received a letter from Verizon explaining the rationale of the new policy and pointing out that the practice had been observed by other wireless carriers. Nonetheless, FCC officials were unyielding in their decision.

In its announcement on Wednesday, Verizon disclosed that the company will be abandoning the "Network Optimization" plan due to the strain exerted by regulators in relation to its implementation.

"We've greatly valued the ongoing dialogue over the past several months concerning network optimization, and have decided not to move forward with the planned implementation of network optimization for 4G LTE customers on unlimited plans," Verizon declared in a statement.

This decision had been commended by FCC.

"I salute Verizon Wireless's decision," Wheeler shared. "This is a responsible action and I commend Verizon's leadership on this issue," the FCC official added.

Tagsverizon, throttle, peak hours, Network Optimization, U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler