“When a tech company tells you something is unlimited, don’t believe ’em,” Klint Finley reports for Wired. “Last week Microsoft nixed the unlimited storage option from its OneDrive service. Meanwhile, Comcast started billing users extra in some cities if they gobble more than 300GB of bandwidth per month. Last month Sprint followed the lead of most of its competitors and began throttling download speeds of its ‘unlimited’ data plan for customers who exceed 23GB per month of data usage.”
“The message is clear: if you want to download or store lots of data, you’re going to have to pay more for it,” Finley reports. “Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas says that about 10 percent of its customers nationwide account for 50 percent of all data usage amongs its customers. “The idea is those who use more pay more,” he says. And, increasingly, they do. In 15 trial cities, customers who use more than 300 gigabytes of data are charged an extra $30 per month.”
“Comcast and others have recognized that heavy users will generally pay more for their service than average users. A few people using far more than average are just outlier,” Finley reports. “But if enough people go over the average, that’s a market. ‘Unlimited’ is really just a placeholder for new tiers of service that companies haven’t invented yet.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We were working on backing up The Internet to Microsoft’s OneDrive for $6.99 a month. Sorry if we ruined it for you, Windows sufferers! 😉
As for Internet data, how are you doing with that? Are you among the heavy data users in the top 3% of data consumers?
SEE ALSO:
AT&T increases data allowance to 22GB before throttling unlimited plan users – September 16, 2015
AT&T urges FCC to drop $100 million fine, claims ‘unlimited’ customers not materially affected by throttling – July 29, 2015
AT&T may face U.S. FCC fine over data throttling iPhone users – January 9, 2015
AT&T defends unlimited data throttling, says U.S. FTC can’t stop it – January 9, 2015
Verizon explains why it’s throttling its ‘unlimited’ data customers – July 31, 2014
U.S. FTC suing AT&T over promises of unlimited data – October 28, 2014
AT&T Mobility limits ‘unlimited’ data plans – March 1, 2012
AT&T limits ‘unlimited’ data customers – February 15, 2012
AT&T won’t appeal decision in throttling suit, pays up – March 19, 2012
AT&T offers iPhone user a settlement in throttling case in exchange for silence – March 13, 2012
AT&T customer wins $850 in iPhone ‘throttling’ case – February 24, 2012