No More Unlimited Data

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As more and more people start using smartphones the costs have gone down quite a bit but not with everything. There is no longer, under any provider, a data plan that allows users unlimited access. AT&T and T-Mobile, which are the second and fourth largest U.S. carriers, already put the axe to their unlimited data plans a while ago. T-Mobile USA now charges people based on their monthly data usage. As far as AT&T is concerned, they have a tiered system where users can pick which one would best meet their needs. It seems that the industry was loosing out on a lot of money by giving customers the option to buy into limitless connectivity. Now, as Verizon has stated, there are no longer phone providers or carriers that offer unlimited data.

This is all happening due to unsurpassed success, not failure. The smartphones are too popular. The death of unlimited wireless data is happening because providers have been seeing a mass proliferation in the use of data and it’s, predominantly, due to the smartphone market. Apparently about 77 million people in the U.S alone had them in the first few months of the year, which is up over 10 percent from the same time the year before that. The figures are climbing and the big carriers didn’t see it coming that quickly. Smartphone users have climbed and their data usage has almost doubled. These statistics are what pushed the industry to make a big change to their current business model.

The announcement came as another blow to the limitless data model. It’s not going to affect everyone, just new customers or anyone looking to upgrade their old phone to a smart phone. Now, it seems, that many carriers are going to start charging people per-megabyte usage. With Verizon, you can get 75 megabytes of data usage per month for about ten dollars. But it hasn’t always been completely open. Even when T-Mobile did offer total data access, the company would slow down the data speeds for unlimited plan customers who use up their monthly allotment. This wasn’t always known by the customer. It was legal because they still, technically, had unlimited data but it wasn’t at the same strength. It’s likely that it’s going to stay this way. We’ll probably see data wars between the providers long before we see a return to any unlimited plans.

To put in plainly, there’s far more money to be made with limited or capped data plans. Growth and maximum profits aren’t possible with a fixed-price model. This is especially the case if people continue to use and get smartphones in the kinds of numbers the industry has seen in the last couple years. Though everyone that has the old unlimited data plan will still have it. It’s not like its going to be taken away, but providers are going to have to find another gimmick to keep people streaming in.