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11:05 AM – Two of nation’s largest carriers have data caps set on their customers. Unless you’re on the old godfathered unlimited data plan, you may either have a 2GB, 3GB or even 5GB monthly data cap if you’re on AT&T or Verizon. Both wireless companies insist that customers are not in danger of going over their data caps, however that may not hold true as time progresses. We are in a world where technology is advancing at such a rapid pace, everyone is getting smartphones these days.
The New York Times reports of a study that will give us some insight as to why AT&T and Verizon may be forced to ditch data caps. The study published this week shares that average monthly mobile data consumption in the United States has increased a lot over the last year. It stood at 690 MB per month in 2012, and now 1.2GB per month this year. Every year, more people are tossing their basic phones in the trash and opting for smartphones. If data consumption continues to grow at this rate, we could see an average monthly usage of 2.4GB, which is above what most people have on their plans.
If AT&T and Verizon continues to impose data caps, then it will ultimately benefit other carriers that have abandoned the data caps policy. Such carrier comes to mind is T-Mobile. They now offer unlimited data plan as well as capped data plans. While having capped data plan does impose restrictions, some people are willing to deal with it due to either budgeting reasons, or simply because they don’t need a lot of data. Sprint also offers the same type of solution where there is the unlimited data plan, but also capped data plans such as the family share data. T-Mobile has gotten the attention of many customers and carrier alike with their “Uncarrier” initiative. Verizon and especially AT&T are already bleeding customers to T-Mobile.
How long do you think it will be before AT&T and Verizon do something to make a change?
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