What's the impact of carriers' new 'capped' wireless data plans on corporate networks?

At least in short term, most companies expected to stick with unlimited wireless data plans

The short answer is that no one knows exactly, yet.

In June, AT&T announced tiered wireless data plans shortly before the launch of the iPhone 4. Existing subscribers could continue with unlimited plans, but new customers have to choose between DataPlus, $15 a month for 200MB of data traffic or DataPro, $25 a month for 2GB. AT&T says the two plans cover 98% of current customers, 65% of whom currently use less than 200MB.

If users in either plan go over during a month, they can get a second "bucket" of data for the same or a bit less money than the original bucket. (See "Decoding the new AT&T iPhone data plans".)

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The short answer is that no one knows exactly, yet.

In June, AT&T announced tiered wireless data plans shortly before the launch of the iPhone 4. Existing subscribers could continue with unlimited plans, but new customers have to choose between DataPlus, $15 a month for 200MB of data traffic or DataPro, $25 a month for 2GB. AT&T says the two plans cover 98% of current customers, 65% of whom currently use less than 200MB.

If users in either plan go over during a month, they can get a second "bucket" of data for the same or a bit less money than the original bucket. (See "Decoding the new AT&T iPhone data plans".)

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At least in the near term, most companies that already have unlimited plans will stick with them, says Phillip Redman, research vice president with Gartner's network services and infrastructure practice. "Those that don't have that option will have to better monitor user data needs and match them up to the right data plan. It seems universal that the vast majority of users don't need unlimited plans, though enterprises like these [plans] because they're predictable."

Craig Mathias, of the Farpoint Group mobile consultancy, thinks limits will create a "psychology of scarcity," constraining data use. Those constraints "won't be for productivity at all," he says. The limits are unfair, he says, "as it's impossible for most users to control how much data they receive…."

"Overall, corporations are likely to set up limits on data usage and reimbursement limits that will automatically control the kind of data usage," says Schwark Satyavolu, CEO of BillShrink, a Web site that lets you compare costs on such things as cell phone services.

One possible step, he says, is setting rules, and enforcing them, regarding employee use of high-bandwidth entertainment applications. "Since only e-mail rarely will cross the 200MB limit, only certain kinds of employees that need more than e-mail will be given approval for second tier [usage]," Satyavolu says.

Another step is using Wi-Fi whenever possible for data connections. Enterprises can ensure that all mobile devices are configured to Wi-Fi connections for all known office networks, Satyavolu says. That's already happening for AT&T users: the carrier reported recently that the number of connections on its nationwide network of Wi-Fi hotspots for Q2 was 30% higher than Q1 and four times the number of connections a year ago.

Going forward, data caps will affect the total cost structure of enterprise mobility.

"Companies now have to figure in wireless data caps into their total cost of ownership equation [for mobility] when evaluating any app deployment to enterprise users," says Jack Gold, principal of J. Gold Associates, a technology research and consulting firm.