AT&T announced today that they will no longer be offering all-you-can-use data plans for the iPad and iPhone. According to Bloomberg The current plan costs approximately $30, but the changes will reduce the cost for the average user. The new starting data allowance is a measly 200 MB, which can be upgraded to 2GB per month for $25.
On the surface, this may seem like yet another reason to AT&Flee from them. Their notoriously bad reputation and coverage in NYC means you are selling your soul to the devil to use the iPhone.
One of the worst problems with AT&T is the congestion in the network in urban areas like NYC. Putting a cost to the byte may alleviate some of the congestion as users throttle back their use somewhat.
From an environmental standpoint, it doesn't make much sense to have unlimited anything that has a negative impact. Network traffic uses power, the more data you send and surf, the bigger the footprint needed to support the traffic in data centers, routers and signaling towers. Just like if electricity was free, we would probably not be as conscience in switching off the lights when we leave, if bandwidth is free one can browse until the cows come home regardless of the congestion effect and environmental externalities. Though in the case of the iPhone, the cows come home after way too quickly.
2 comments:
Unmentioned in the article (and surprisingly under-reported in general) is the effect that this will have on companies whose internet strategies are based on users having sufficient data streaming capacity--particularly the YouTubes of the world, or, as my group is currently brainstorming for our paper, Netflix.
These companies have piggy-backed on the "all you can eat" webplans in the computer space, and now doubt are pursuing similar strategies for the mobile device market.
Other companies, like Slingbox, offer streaming content that eats up well over the 2GB quota of the highest AT&T data plan.
Perhaps one solution to the bandwidth problem is to directly partner with AT&T to create media that does not count against one's monthly quota. This could take the form of a series of a la carte subscriptions--$10 per month for unlimited streaming ESPN.
Update to the above--seems the NYTimes is now on this.
Post a Comment