AT&T finally gets real about mobile data (I hope)

Yesterday, American mobile operator AT&T announced a new pricing plan for mobile data. Here at GoMo News, we greeted this news as a sign that AT&T was getting real about it’s data users – but there has been a massively negative response to the news in many sectors. As such, I’d like to get into a little more detail about the new plan.

What’s this about?

In brief: up until yesterday, you could get an all-you-can-eat data plan from AT&T for 30 bucks. The new data plan is very different. There’s no more all-you-can-eat – for $15 a month you get 200MB, and for $25 a month you get 2GB. You can see more details in our report from yesterday, but those are the basics.

What’s the problem?

A lot of people are angry because, on the face of it, this looks like AT&T is pulling a fast one on smartphone users -  and iPad users in particular. Dan Frakes at Computerworld explains how part of the allure of the iPad was AT&Ts unlimited data plan – a promise that AT&T has now reneged on. Smartphone owners worry that the growing mobiled data industry could be crippled by limits that AT&T is putting in place. There are so many exciting ways to use your smartphone, from streaming music, to doing office work when on the move, to making video calls – but these all rely on data. The fear is that other operators may follow AT&Ts move, and then consumers will be too nervous to use their devices to their full potential.

What we think?

I think AT&T is starting to take responsibility for its actions – it just hasn’t managed it in a very PR friendly way. Using the iPhone over AT&T has been a history of poor coverage, slow services and complaints from AT&T itself. Offering limitless data when you don’t have the infrastructure to support it is just irresponsible.

AT&T claimed this week that less than 2% of phone owners get anywhere near 2GB data a month – with the majority using less than 200MB. That’s a strong argument to back up claims that limitless data plans aren’t really necessary. However, as Jeff Gelles of the Philadelphia Inquirer points out, if AT&Ts service were more reliable, people would use more data.

I’m going to take the sunniest possible stance on this. I’m going to say that this move from AT&T shows that it realises it can’t give unlimited mobile data to everyone. It’s simply not possible. I’m going to say that AT&T is introducing caps to flatten out data spikes, and ensure a more even service across the board for mobile data users. I’m going to say that this is stop-gap measure while AT&T invests heavily in network upgrades and moving towards 4G – which it really is – and that when it becomes possible again, the operator will move back to limitless data plans.

And I really hope I’m right. Because otherwise AT&T is just screwing everyone.