The ability to use 200Kbps all the time and the ability to use 50Mbps all the time are both limited to the speed they allow. Personally I'm fine with saying a plan is unlimited without requiring them to build infrastructure to host everyone on a single tower at the full rate. Throttling to give everyone equal access (especially during an emergency) is a lot different than simply throttling someone on an empty tower simply because they have used a lot of data. The first very much fits within what you'd expect from an unlimited plan. The second is simply punitive if you make use of your unlimited plan. I'm not sure which was the case for the firefighters.