U.S. cellphone customers are paying comparatively more data
overage fees than before.
More than a quarter of AT&T customers and also 20% of the
Verizon customers have complained that they have started paying overage charges
in the last six months.
Well, instead of fading away, the problem is growing every
year. The wireless industry is expecting data usage to double in the years to
come. “I simply think our usage is outstripping our plans," said Colby Synesael,
the analyst at Cowen & Co.
Verizon customers have drastically increased their data plans
and the percentage of the customers who have switched from small to bigger
plans has abruptly grown for the second quarter in a row. Strangely, the percentage
of AT&T customers who have bumped up their plans to include a bigger bucket
of data has fallen for four straight quarters. While Cowen & Co. believes
that AT&T is not offering appropriate data tiers. It offers a 2GB plan for
$30 a month, a 5GB plan for $50 a month and 15GB plan for $100 a month with
nothing in between.
Verizon recently made a smart move by adjusting its data
bucket and started offering 1GB, 3GB, 6GB and 18GB tiers. If you wish to
upgrade from one tier to the next level then it would cost just $20 a month
extra, not the $50 jump that AT&T charges to go from 5GB to 15GB.
Both, Verizon and AT&T kept numb on the story. On the
other hand, T-Mobile and Sprint customers fared much better in the survey.
T-Mobile doesn’t charge overages, but the provider slows down customers' speeds
once they reach their monthly data allotment. T-Mobile allows 5GB a month to
its subscribers and they can upgrade to an unlimited plan for just $10 additional.
Virtually, all the customers are on unlimited data plans, but
few of them are on tiered plans and 3% of Sprint customers have been recently
reported paying overages. "We are always looking at what customers want
and watching trends in data consumption closely, so stay tuned on this,"
said a spokesman for T-Mobile. Sprint confirmed that its customers get the best
value. "They don't worry about overages with unlimited data," said a
spokeswoman for Sprint. "Plus, AT&T and Verizon don't even offer
unlimited plans to new customers."
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