As mobile broadband services become more widespread, we’re starting to hear stories about data caps and the customers who exceed them. The first prominent incident occurred in late 2007, when Verizon issued termination letters to customers who exceed their then-invisible 5GB cap. The latest is a woman who purchased a netbook with a two-year data contract with AT&T, only to find out later that the carrier’s 5GB cap, of which she was unaware, brought her initial bill to $5,000. Clearly, there’s an issue here, but unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any quick fix.
Lynnette Luna of Fierce Wireless tackles the issue, noting that consumer needs and carrier capabilities don’t seem compatible. Her money quote: “Customers are wanting to use their mobile Internet connections the same way they use their wired ones–despite the fact that operators say they aren’t positioning their services this way.” Unless consumers do something about this, the carriers are going to win this battle. They have the spectrum and they’ll dole it out how they want to.
There are a few solutions to keep data-heavy consumers at bay. For instance, Vodafone Hungary depresses speeds for heavy users during peak hours. They can still access the Internet, but won’t be able to hog bandwidth when others are using the service. They can resume their normal data consumption late at night and early in the morning. Then there’s the prepaid route, though without a scheme like the above in place, it will likely just cost a lot of money.
This is why WiMax can win the 4G battle. If Clearwire can maintain a truly unlimited data service, much like your wired cable or DSL connection, they will attract a data-heavy crowd. If their pricing is on par with Verizon’s and AT&T’s LTE 4G data services, then there would be no reason to join the Big Two. Keep WiMax uncapped and watch it flourish in the face of the restricting policies of current carriers. If they don’t change up as 4G rolls out, they could fall flat.
Related posts:
