Register

I agree with the Privacy Policy

Dallas Morning News

AT&T ending unlimited data plans for smart phones

June 02, 2010

AT&T smart phone subscribers who have $30 unlimited data plans will be able to keep those plans if they wish, even when they renew their contracts. However, customers who move to one of the new plans cannot return to their old unlimited plan.

For example, one of the most popular apps on the iPad is broadcaster ABC's free app that streams episodes of television shows. According to AT&T's online data calculator, watching 50 minutes of video a day at basic video quality settings would burn through 2.86 gigabytes a month.

Harry Wang, director of health and mobile product research at Dallas-based research firm Parks Associates, said those scenarios are probably what spurred AT&T to act.

"Mobile carriers are realizing that devices like smart phones and iPads will clog their pipe, and they want to set straight consumer expectations before the fixed-rate-for-unlimited-use is deep-rooted in consumers' mind," Wang wrote in an e-mail.

From the article, "AT&T ending unlimited data plans for smart phones" by Victor Godinez

Previously In The News

AT&T-Verizon effort to test use of smart phones as mobile wallets

AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless , the biggest U.S. mobile carriers, are planning a venture to displace credit and debit cards with smart phones, posing a new threat to Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc.,...

AT&T to pay $1.925 billion for spectrum licenses from Qualcomm

San Diego-based Qualcomm announced that it would be shutting down its subsidiary, FLO TV, in March 2011, freeing up the spectrum that AT&T agreed to purchase. AT&T and Qualcomm expect to close the s...

Movie, book, game companies fight to survive plunge into Internet age

But while the music business has been undeniably swamped by the Internet, other segments such as movies, books and games are still afloat and navigating toward a not necessarily disastrous online fu...

Blockbuster's top man seeks debt options

But studios continue to experiment on their own as consumer use of online video services doubled from 2008 to 2009, according to Dallas-based Parks Associates, which predicts revenue from premium vi...

‹
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
›