LOS ANGELES _ A crew of firefighters from Silicon Valley had arrived in Lake County to help battle the largest blaze in California history when suddenly their mobile internet service slowed to a crawl.
Officials coordinating the firefighting effort inside the Santa Clara County Fire Department's command vehicle faced email delays and challenges updating web-based documents with critical information about deployment, Capt. Bill Murphy said.
They quickly learned that their provider, Verizon Wireless, had throttled down the department's connection to {00 or less than previous speeds because the agency had exceeded its data plan limit.
