AT&T Moves Closer To Usage-Based Fees For Data

CWmike writes "AT&T has moved closer to charging special usage fees to heavy data users, including those with iPhones and other smartphones. Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, came close on Wednesday to warning about some kind of use-based pricing while speaking at a UBS conference. 'The first thing we need to do is educate customers about what represents a megabyte of data and...we're improving systems to give them real-time information about their data usage,' he said. 'Longer term, there's got to be some sort of pricing scheme that addresses the [heavy] users.' AT&T has found that only 3% of its smartphone users — primarily iPhone owners — are responsible for 40% of total data usage, largely for video and audio, de la Vega said. Educating that group about how much they are using could change that, as AT&T has found by informing wired Internet customers of such patterns. De la Vega's comments on data use were previewed in a keynote he gave in October at the CTIA, but he went beyond those comments on Wednesday: 'We are going to make sure incentives are in place to reduce or modify [data]uses so they don't crowd out others in the same cell sites.' Focus groups have been formed at AT&T to figure out how to proceed."

well

[nomadic]

As an iphone user, I say good. If the extra fees force those 3% to cut down a little, maybe my connection won't be so slow all the time.

Re:Time Machine

[elrous0]

Don't worry, AT&T's network coverage sucks so bad that no one will ever be ABLE to get close to the limit.

Re:Time Machine

[Sir_Lewk]

I'm sorry, I'm just not getting this. You're going to have to put this in the form of a car analogy.

Re:Time Machine

[Grishnakh]

This just reinforces why Europe sucks compared to the USA. How are your cellular companies supposed to realize giant profits for shareholders if they can't charge by the megabyte, and use a low-profit flat fee model instead? Even worse, your companies don't lock customers in with long contracts the way ours do. Things like these are why your companies' CEOs get paid so much worse than ours. Go USA!!!

Re:Time Machine

[VisceralLogic]

OK, so it's like your phone company says it's going to give you a Lamborghini, but only charge you for a Kia. Then, you get the car, and discover it's actually a Kia with a Lamborghini body kit. Then you get your first bill, and discover they're still charging you for a Lamborghini... actually, for 10 Lamborghinis.

Re:The classic double speak

[EastCoastSurfer]

Since when is anyone at ATT smart enough to think of what you described?

I got a nasty gram from them the other day. It said my bill was late and if I didn't pay the bill immediately my service would be shut off. Then there would be fees, etc... Guess how much it finally said I owed? $0...yep ZERO dollars. If they are paying postage and paper costs to send out letters like the one I received I can't imagine what other idiotic things they are doing.

Re:Time Machine

[Mike Buddha]

Then you get your first bill, and discover they're still charging you for a Lamborghini... actually, for 10 Lamborghinis.

You've pretty much described the purchase of every Apple product.

Re:Time Machine

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

hey! My MacBook was actually 4 Enzo Ferraris! Not 10 Lamborginis!

Are we also talking Gallardo? Murcielago? We need more clarfication here!