“There’s a fee for that.” That may be something AT&T customers will be hearing in the future when it comes to data usage. As anyone who’s seen Verizon’s “There’s a Map for That” ads knows, AT&T’s 3G coverage is pathetic. What’s more, iPhones are huge data hogs. For AT&T this is a recipe for disaster. iPhone users have been complaining about poor coverage and slow speeds for awhile and it seems AT&T’s answer is to tell them to stop using so much data.
Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive for mobility and consumer markets at AT&T, told analysts at a conference in New York that the company will beginning encouraging customers to refrain from heavy data usage even thought they pay for unlimited data.
“We’re going to try to focus on making sure we give incentives to those small percentages to either reduce or modify their usage, so they don’t crowd out the customers on those same cell sites,” he said.
De la Vega went on to say that the company may consider a “pricing scheme that addresses the usage” as well but that more research would have to be done. Some analysts think that might mean tiered data plans are in the future not unlike those used by some cable broadband providers.
AT&T can raise its data fees and “encourage” customers to use less data all they want, but the bottom line is there network stinks and they are going to have to put more work into increasing their 3G coverage and bandwith capabilities. Those ads aren’t lying, and that’s why AT&T freaked out and tried to get a judge to block them. If they think they are going to convince smartphone users, especially iPhone owners, to use less data, they are going to be sorely disappointed. Then again, if Apple finally decides to end it’s exclusivity agreement with them, they may well find lack of coverage to be the least of their problems. Where the iPhone goes a good chunk of their customer base may go too.
What do you think? If you have an unlimited data plan and your provider started encouraging you to use less data would you listen? Why or why not?
Read [New York Times]
I'm on T-Mobile and haven't had any true problems with it. I was considering AT&T because I heard it's the best for a business but now i'm glad I haven't made the change =]