AT&T has tried to match Sprint in the marketplace as a price leader in data plans. But a new report today reveals that the U.S. mobile giant is using limitations and data “throttling” once users reach a data usage threshold, possibly shuttling subscribers to Sprint once the 4G iPhone 5 is released.
Anyone who uses a smartphone has had to make themselves aware of the pricing games that mobile carriers play with users when it comes to data usage. Sprint, America’s third-largest mobile carrier, has made its unlimited data package the crown jewel of its price-leading marketing strategy, and arguably has remained competitive only because of it (even gaining the iPhone has yet to solve Sprint’s earning issues). AT&T and Verizon, both of whom compete as product leaders in the mobile market, have long since abandoned an attempt to compete against Sprint’s unlimited data plans. But for even AT&T’s customers who are grandfathered into AT&T’s old unlimited data plan, remaining unlimited will now come at a price in service quality.
A new report making the rounds today reveals that any attempt that AT&T is making to characterize their unlimited data plan as truly unlimited has officially lost its believability. The San Mateo Daily Journal explains that AT&T will “slow down service for its ‘unlimited data’ subscribers when they hit 3 gigabytes of usage within a billing cycle [and 5 gigabytes for 4G LTE]. Previously, the company had been throttling service when subscribers entered the heaviest 5 percent of data users for that month and that area.” To be sure, if you’re a non-unlimited data plan AT&T customer, this comes as good news, as the dreaded “throttling” will not be applied to your account. But for those who still enjoy unlimited pricing, throttling is coming.
If you’re not familiar with data throttling, you should be: it constitutes a dramatic slowdown in data transfer, making the mobile smartphone experience excruciatingly painful — especially for those accustomed with AT&T’s industry-leading speediness. And ironically, this throttling will tend to affect grandfathered-in unlimited data users who tend to use heavy-duty data, such as for watching movies. For them, the days of enjoying unlimited data and AT&T’s best speeds are over.
AT&T cites the reason for data throttling is to better manage their busy data traffic, which in turn will improve services across the board for all AT&T subscribers. But while this might be a winning strategy for AT&T, it could ironically push some of the most heavy-duty smartphone geeks over to Sprint once the iPhone 5 is released.
iPhone and other smartphone users who were able to remain on AT&T’s unlimited data plan with no restrictions on service quality have been happy to do so, giving them access to the best of both worlds: AT&T service quality and reasonable pricing. But if AT&T iPhone subscribers have to choose between price and performance, they very well may consider jumping over Sprint, since they too will ostensibly offer the iPhone on their own 4G LTE network.
Finally, Sprint could manage to garner all remaining subscribers in the marketplace whose primary object is to find a carrier who will give them steady service and an unlimited data plan. All Sprint will have to do is make sure that their 4G LTE network actually works. And with Sprint, that still remains in question.
Anyone who uses a smartphone has had to make themselves aware of the pricing games that mobile carriers play with users when it comes to data usage. Sprint, America’s third-largest mobile carrier, has made its unlimited data package the crown jewel of its price-leading marketing strategy, and arguably has remained competitive only because of it (even gaining the iPhone has yet to solve Sprint’s earning issues). AT&T and Verizon, both of whom compete as product leaders in the mobile market, have long since abandoned an attempt to compete against Sprint’s unlimited data plans. But for even AT&T’s customers who are grandfathered into AT&T’s old unlimited data plan, remaining unlimited will now come at a price in service quality.
A new report making the rounds today reveals that any attempt that AT&T is making to characterize their unlimited data plan as truly unlimited has officially lost its believability. The San Mateo Daily Journal explains that AT&T will “slow down service for its ‘unlimited data’ subscribers when they hit 3 gigabytes of usage within a billing cycle [and 5 gigabytes for 4G LTE]. Previously, the company had been throttling service when subscribers entered the heaviest 5 percent of data users for that month and that area.” To be sure, if you’re a non-unlimited data plan AT&T customer, this comes as good news, as the dreaded “throttling” will not be applied to your account. But for those who still enjoy unlimited pricing, throttling is coming.
If you’re not familiar with data throttling, you should be: it constitutes a dramatic slowdown in data transfer, making the mobile smartphone experience excruciatingly painful — especially for those accustomed with AT&T’s industry-leading speediness. And ironically, this throttling will tend to affect grandfathered-in unlimited data users who tend to use heavy-duty data, such as for watching movies. For them, the days of enjoying unlimited data and AT&T’s best speeds are over.
AT&T cites the reason for data throttling is to better manage their busy data traffic, which in turn will improve services across the board for all AT&T subscribers. But while this might be a winning strategy for AT&T, it could ironically push some of the most heavy-duty smartphone geeks over to Sprint once the iPhone 5 is released.
iPhone and other smartphone users who were able to remain on AT&T’s unlimited data plan with no restrictions on service quality have been happy to do so, giving them access to the best of both worlds: AT&T service quality and reasonable pricing. But if AT&T iPhone subscribers have to choose between price and performance, they very well may consider jumping over Sprint, since they too will ostensibly offer the iPhone on their own 4G LTE network.
Finally, Sprint could manage to garner all remaining subscribers in the marketplace whose primary object is to find a carrier who will give them steady service and an unlimited data plan. All Sprint will have to do is make sure that their 4G LTE network actually works. And with Sprint, that still remains in question.
So easy! Wow, I really feel like I put way too much effort into this.
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