It had to happen one day, and it finally has - the sun has set on the happy days of unlimited mobile Internet plans for smartphones. The blogs that devote themselves to all things iPhone (and to me, it seems like that would be one out of every three blogs) have been seething with comments about what this means for the future of mobile Internet on the iPhone. Now anytime you see everyone out there in uncharacteristic agreement in their belief in a single truth, you know that there's something there that you're missing. And every last one of those headlines on iPhone blogs feel wretched about how the service providers have found yet another way to fleece their customers.
Now that you no longer have unlimited power to roam the planes of the Internet for $30 (on AT&T only for now), you'll have to find a way to track how much you use the Internet to download and browse stuff each month, add it all up in megabytes, and worry about whether you'll be able to afford all that you need, or if you will end up buying more than you will ever be able to use.
As much as that appears to be a hassle, if you would think about it, is it not something everyone does for pre-paid talk time without a complaint? While AT&T is the only company to go that way now, every other carrier is expected to emulate the example that's been set. Is there any way to look at this other than to feel the carriers are just trying to milk you for more by asking you to pay for an essential commodity? Aren't they just killing innovation?
Well, not so fast. The new pay-as-you-go mobile Internet plans that AT&T has brought up, are strictly optional if you are an existing unlimited mobile internet customer. If they really wanted to gouge you, why would they give you the option to continue - even if you throw away your old phone and buy a new phone for the same number? And the new capped downloads plans seem extra generous too. The top-of-the-line Data Pro plan only costs $25 a month for 2GB worth of data. And if you want even more than that, it's yours for $10 for each additional gigabyte. And there is a lighter version available to those whose needs don't extend that far - $15 for 200 MB. For an extra $20 a month, you can even use your phone as a tethered mobile Internet server for your laptop.
If you are constantly worried about crossing your limit, AT&T send you repeated e-mail and text message reminders when you approach your limit, and you can even request that data with a *DATA# call or with a free app on the iPhone. But get this - according to AT&T, almost everyone, 99% of us, never actually use more than 2GB, even with our unlimited plans. We actually stand to save money on the capped plans. These plans only increase costs for users who download like crazy.
So why exactly is AT&T doing this nice thing for us, trying to save us money? To begin with, they're trying to penalize the users in the 1%, who hog the network without paying as much as they should. And also, AT&T is trying to shore up its bottom line for the future. With iPhone 4 users have been going heavy duty with video chatting; who knows what the future will bring up? Clearly, giving away unlimited Internet for free isn't a good idea. Just this year, AT&T is investing more than $10 billion in building capacity. They would just be slipping two feet down the pole every foot they climbed, with people using so much mobile Internet bandwidth, that they render ineffective any improvements the company tries to bring online.
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