Capped data plan still limiting customers
Reading the blogs and talking to friends at CES 2011 in Las Vegas, there are not too many happy campers when Verizon released their Novatel LTE Mifi. Many at first thought that it would be great as expect download speeds of the MIFI were of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in LTE Mobile Broadband coverage areas would be loved by all. But when they were told at CES that the pricing would stay the same, many turned away. Verizon is going to charge $50 for 5GB and $80 for $10GB, many think it is outrageous. Don’t worry AT&T has similar plan that are all capped.
I have read notes from Verizon and AT&T saying people will never use that much data in a month, still not sure what planet they are living on. Then you talk to friends who travel all the time, using Netflix and other services like Sling Box on their 3G cards. They say it is not too hard to use your data plan in a week. Both carriers could have made a big splash at CES by announcing they would give unlimited 4G data like Clear and Sprint (fyi, Sprint uses Clear 4G network).
It makes you wonder if these carriers really listen to customers or just to their internal marketing group who never gets out of the office. I would hope T-Mobile steps up and away from the big carriers to offer unlimited 4G data plans. It would be a great way for them to gain market share.
Now on the other hand I did like a few new 4G phones that were shown at CES by the carriers, very cool and very fast. But looking at it from the other side, I just wonder how long it will take the carriers to put a bad data plan limit on 4G phones? People I talked to at CES said they think it will be coming. Cisco just announces they will be using the Verizon network for their new tablet, you think people will be mad at Verizon for a capped 4G Data plan on the Cisco tablet? The capped data plan and overage charges could be an enterprise killer. Engineers will think one way as it is not a problem, but the CFO will think another way.
