AT&T is getting rid of unlimited data plans, meaning—the horror!—people with iPhones and iPads might actually have to monitor usage.
If you already have a $30 all-you-can-eat plan, you’re allowed to keep it. But new iPhone customers will have to select among two limited-use plans, per USA Today:
Under the DataPlus plan, subscribers can pay $15 a month for 200 megabytes of data; that would handle about 400 photos or 100 minutes of streaming video. The DataPro plan offers 10 times that capacity, 2 gigabytes, for $25.
AT&T will send text alerts to customers near their limits. DataPlus customers who go over will be charged $15 for an additional 200 MB. DataPro users will pay $10 for an extra 1 GB.
Also, there are changes with iPad plans:
Apple’s new iPad tablet also uses AT&T’s wireless service. The new pricing will offer those customers 2 GB for $25 a month; current customers can keep their unlimited service offer for $29.99 a month.
IPhone customers who pay an extra $20 a month soon will be able to use the phones to provide Internet connections for laptops or other devices.
So going over the limit will obviously cost you, and it seems like going over the limit is going to get increasingly easier, especially with all of the data-consuming options offered by the iPad. But, according to the WSJ:
The change could mean lower rates for people who use their phones mainly for email, Web browsing and phone calls, but higher bills for people who use their iPhones or BlackBerrys to watch online videos or listen to Internet music.
Then again, if you were using your phone mainly for email, Web browsing, and phone calls (do people still use phones to call anyone?), you probably shouldn’t have been signed up for an unlimited plan in the first place. What’s more, if you’re not using all your iPhone or Blackberry to its full capabilities, you should probably ask yourself if you need such a fancy (and expensive) phone at all.
The WSJ also says that the flip side of potentially cheaper rates will be a new set of hassles:
AT&T’s change promises new headaches for consumers, who last decade were freed from the need to count minutes on their cellphone plans. Subscribers now face the prospect of having to check their data counter before opening an email or checking out a video on YouTube.
The changes in AT&T’s plans are certainly aimed at the small percentage of the iPhone “data pigs,” as they’re called in a NY Times story:
The trouble for AT&T was that a fraction of users — fewer than 2 percent — made such heavy use of the network that they slowed it down for everyone else.
But the changes can also be seen as a play to attract new customers who until now have been scared off by costly data plans. A different WSJ story says:
… by cutting the price for most people, it could prompt more to use smartphones, providing an extra growth spark.
And what do consumer advocates make of all of this? This quote from the WSJ pretty much sums it up:
Some consumer advocacy groups criticized the move, arguing it hurts subscribers with unfair charges and sets the stage for higher data-usage prices in the future. “We see it as a rate hike dressed up as fancy PR,” said Joel Kelsey, a spokesman for the Consumers Union.