I’ll just leave this here…For those of you who plan to have a data plan with you new iphone/ipad and think you will probably use none of it, this could be good new for you. :lol:lol
07:35 AM CDT on Thursday, June 3, 2010
By VICTOR GODINEZ / The Dallas Morning News
vgodinez@dallasnews.comAttention, heavy wireless data downloaders: Your days of unlimited use are numbered.
And that number is four.
Starting Monday, Dallas-based AT&T Inc . will do away with unlimited data plans for buyers of high-end smart phones such as the iPhone and become the first in the wireless industry to charge based on usage.
While the pricing overhaul could reduce some customers’ bills, smart phone owners who want to surf the Web, check e-mail, watch video and stream audio without limits will have to pay more for exceeding data quotas.
By killing its existing unlimited plan, AT&T is likely to ease some of the burden on its wireless network and could pave the way for competitors to follow suit.
“This move was expected, and not just from AT&T, but from all the competitors,” said telecommunications industry analyst Jeff Kagan.
“AT&T started this, and I fully expect to hear something similar first from Verizon, then Sprint. The only question is when.”
Taking action
AT&T executives have hinted strongly for months that the cellular industry needed to go to tiered pricing, noting that 3 percent of smart phone customers were responsible for 40 percent of wireless data traffic.
On Wednesday, AT&T took action. The unlimited data plan it now sells smart phone buyers for $30 a month will be replaced by two new ones: DataPlus and DataPro.
•DataPlus will cost $15 for a maximum data download of 200 megabytes a month. AT&T says that plan will allow users to send or receive 1,000 e-mails a month, view 400 Web pages and watch 20 minutes of streaming video from sites such as YouTube.
The company said 65 percent of its smart phone customers use less than 200 megabytes of data a month.
•DataPro will be $25 for a maximum download of 2 gigabytes a month. AT&T said 98 percent of its smart phone customers use less than 2 gigabytes of data a month.
The 2 percent who do use more data face extra costs.
DataPlus users who exceed their monthly caps will be charged $15 for an additional 200 megabytes. DataPro users will be charged $10 for each additional gigabyte of data downloads.
DataPlus users will be able to upgrade to DataPro without penalty.
Those plan changes will not apply to basic phones, nor to AT&T’s netbook computers with built-in 3G access or laptop cards for connecting a computer to the wireless Internet.
AT&T smart phone subscribers who have $30 unlimited data plans will be able to keep those plans if they wish, even when they renew their contracts. However, customers who move to one of the new plans cannot return to their old unlimited plan.
And if customers want the ability to “tether” their iPhone – to share the iPhone’s wireless Internet connection with another computer – they must switch to one of the new data plans. Tethering will be a $20 add-on to the data plan fees.
IPhone tethering will be available when Apple launches the latest iPhone operating system later this summer.
The new plans will also apply to 3G-capable versions of Apple’s new iPad touchscreen tablet computer. On that device, a 2-gig limit could be much more restrictive.
For example, one of the most popular apps on the iPad is broadcaster ABC’s free app that streams episodes of television shows. According to AT&T’s online data calculator, watching 50 minutes of video a day at basic video quality settings would burn through 2.86 gigabytes a month.
Harry Wang, director of health and mobile product research at Dallas-based research firm Parks Associates, said those scenarios are probably what spurred AT&T to act.
“Mobile carriers are realizing that devices like smart phones and iPads will clog their pipe, and they want to set straight consumer expectations before the fixed-rate-for-unlimited-use is deep-rooted in consumers’ mind,” Wang wrote in an e-mail.
Apple recently announced it sold more than 2 million iPads in less than 60 days.
While AT&T will also grandfather in the unlimited data plans of current 3G iPad users, those customers must renew their plans every month to maintain an unlimited contract. Letting the unlimited 3G plan lapse means the user would have to select either the DataPlus or DataPro plan.
AT&T isn’t the only carrier concerned about the impact of unlimited data plans.
Hanging back
But as of Wednesday, Verizon and the other major carriers weren’t ready to follow AT&T’s lead.
Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile took AT&T’s announcement as a chance to brag about their (for now) unlimited data plans.
Sprint noted that it offers 450 voice minutes, unlimited data downloads and unlimited text, picture and video messaging for $69.99 a month, while a similar plan on AT&T with the 200-meg DataPlus plan will cost $74.99.
T-Mobile offers a bundle that includes 500 voice minutes and unlimited data downloads for $54.99, said spokesman Matt Wakefield, compared with AT&T’s lowest bundle, which only includes the 200-meg DataPlus plan.
AT&T says the new data plans could actually make smart phones affordable to more people.
Spokesman Mark Siegel said the new plans are expected to have “minimal or no impact” on AT&T’s sales this year, although there might be a long-term boost to the company’s bottom line.
“We think this could motivate more people to step up to smart phones that might not have considered it before,” he said.
source: dallasnews