Verizon’s Data Prioritization and Deprioritization

Prioritization affects how traffic is handled when networks are congested. Verizon isn’t always straightforward about its prioritization policies, so I maintain this page as a more accessible resource.

As best as I can tell, Verizon has two tiers of priority for its consumer plans.1 I refer to the higher tier of plans as “highly prioritized” and the lower tier as “deprioritized”.

Highly prioritized plans on Verizon’s network

I think Verizon gives high priority to data traffic from the plans listed below.

Plans offered directly from Verizon:

  • Play More Unlimited plan (first 50GB each month)
  • Do More Unlimited plan (first 50GB each month)
  • Get More Unlimited plan (first 50GB each month)
  • Postpaid, non-unlimited plans

Plans from other carriers running over Verizon’s network:

  • Xfinity Mobile’s third-generation, by-the-gig plans2
  • Xfinity Mobile’s unlimited plans with the HD Pass add-on3

Legacy plans:

  • BeyondUnlimited plan (first 22GB each month) 4
  • AboveUnlimited plan (first 75GB each month)5
  • Old versions of the Play, Do, and Get More Unlimited plans6
  • Second-generation Xfinity Mobile plans with the HD Pass add-on7

Deprioritized traffic on Verizon’s network

I think Verizon deprioritizes traffic from the plans and subscriber categories listed below.

Plans offered directly from Verizon:

  • Start Unlimited plan8
  • JustKids plan9
  • Verizon’s prepaid plans10
  • Subscribers surpassing “premium data” thresholds11

Plans from other carriers running over Verizon’s network:

  • Xfinity Mobile subscribers on the current (third-generation) unlimited plan
  • Most Verizon-based MVNOs12
  • Visible subscribers13

Legacy plans:

  • GoUnlimited plan subscribers14
  • Second-generation Xfinity Mobile plans15

Article last updated: September 2021

Footnotes

  1. A two-tier system is consistent with what I’ve seen in Verizon’s legal disclosures, my QCI tests results, and the following excerpt by a self-identified Verizon engineer on Reddit:
    Regular data (i.e. tiered plans, unlimited plans before the threshold) is QCI 8. All deprioritized data (go, other unlimited beyond the threshold, MVNO, Visible) is all QCI 9. There isn’t any distinction between the various plans other than QCI 8 and QCI 9. All QCI 8 traffic is the same and all QCI 9 traffic is the same to the network.
    Note that QCIs are only used for LTE networks. A different, albeit similar, mechanism is used for 5G. I’m not confident whether Verizon approaches 5G prioritization in the same way as 4G LTE prioritization. I plan to update this page as I learn more.
  2. See my blog post about Xfinity Mobile’s third-generation plans for more details.
  3. “HD Pass is an add-on feature for Unlimited that allows…higher quality cellular service in times of network congestion.”
    From Xfinity Mobile’s page on the HD pass as of 7/21/2020.
  4. “After 22 GB/line, in times of congestion, your data may be temporarily slower than other traffic.”
    The excerpt above was attached to the description of Verizon’s BeyondUnlimited plan on Verizon’s website (archived here) as of 6/14/2019. The plan is no longer available to new subscribers.
  5. “After 75 GB/line, in times of congestion, your data may be temporarily slower than other traffic.”
    The excerpt above was attached to the description of Verizon’s AboveUnlimited plan on Verizon’s website (archived here) as of 6/14/2019. The plan is no longer available to new subscribers.
  6. High-priority data allotments varied between the old plans:
    • Play More Unlimited: 25GB per month
    • Do More Unlimited: 50GB per month
    • Get More Unlimited: 75GB per month
  7. See this page about the HD Pass add-on.
  8. “Start Unlimited users may temporarily experience slower data in times of congestion.”
    The excerpt comes from Verizon’s website as of 2/7/2020.
  9. “In times of congestion, your data may be temporarily slower than other traffic.”
    The excerpt above was attached to the description of Verizon’s JustKids plan on Verizon’s website (archived here) as of 6/14/2019.
  10. Excerpt from Verizon’s prepaid page as of 2/7/2020:
    “In times of congestion, your data may be temporarily slower than other traffic.”

    Additionally, the Reddit user Quicr clarified in a comment that traffic from Verizon’s prepaid subscribers is deprioritized:
    “All prepaid, both tiered and unlimited, is deprioritized. It’s only on postpaid where there’s a difference.”
    From an October 2018 thread in the Verizon subreddit. Archived here.

  11. E.g., subscribers on the Play More Unlimited, Do More Unlimited, or Get More Unlimited plans who’ve used a lot of data.
  12. See the excerpt from Quicr in the main text of the article.
  13. From Visible’s Legal Disclosures page as of 2/7/2020 (archived here):
    “We may prioritize your data behind other traffic if the cell site you are connected to begins experiencing high demand during the duration of your session. Once the demand on the site lessens, or if you connect to a different site not experiencing high demand, your speed will return to normal.”

    Also see the excerpt from Quicr in the main text of the web page.

  14. “In times of congestion, your data may be temporarily slower than other traffic.”
    The excerpt above was attached to the description of Verizon’s GoUnlimited plan on Verizon’s website (archived here) as of 6/14/2019. The plan is no longer available to new subscribers.
  15. From Xfinity Mobile’s website as of 2/7/2020:
    “In times of congestion, your data may be temporarily slower than other traffic.”
    I believe purchasing Xfinity Mobile’s HD Pass add-on will allow subscribers to receive higher priority.