Verizon follows the country’s number one carrier, AT&T Inc., which did away with unlimited data plans last year. The smallest of the nation’s top four cellular companies, T-Mobile USA, still offers an unlimited service, but the company dramatically slows down data transfers for heavy users - in effect, imposing a speed limit instead of a usage quota. Of the top wireless companies, only Sprint Nextel Corp. still offers unlimited data plans.
The trend follows an explosion in the amount of digital information sent and received as more people buy devices like Apple Inc.’s iPhone and smartphones running Google Inc.’s Android operating system. With limited network capacity, cellphone carriers can discourage heavy usage by placing caps on data transfers and charging more. “What we’re trying to do is streamline our data plan,’’ said a Verizon Wireless spokesman, Howard Waterman.
Limited plans “will certainly affect consumer behavior,’’ said Craig Moffett, a cellular industry analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein Co. in New York. “If it’s going to cost more for the consumer to watch a video, they’re going to think twice before they click on that link of the squirrel on water skis.’’
Verizon Wireless subscribers now pay $29.99 a month for as much data as they want. That means unlimited access to e-mails, Web pages, and entertainment services that stream music, video clips, or movies.
After tomorrow, Verizon Wireless will allow new customers to send and receive a limit of 2 gigabytes of data per month for $30 - enough, said Waterman, to send 1,000 e-mails, view 100 Web pages, listen to more than 20 hours of streaming music, upload more than 20 photographs, and view over two hours of high-definition video.
Verizon will offer higher-priced plans for consumers who use more data. Consumers will be able to buy 5 gigabytes of data per month for $50, or 10 gigabytes for $80. Users who exceed their quotas will be billed $10 per extra gigabyte.
