One month ago, Verizon Wireless’s CFO hinted in an interview that the company might follow AT&T’s lead and replace unlimited data plans with tiered ones. Now Engadget is reporting that the switch might come on July 29th. Because this is just a rumor so far, there’s no word yet on whether Verizon will offer the same 200 MB / 2 GB split as AT&T or whether it will grandfather in existing unlimited customers. [More]
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![AT&T Hints That It Might Introduce Usage-Based Pricing For Smartphone Customers](../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/120909-003-att-says-feed-me.jpg?w=200&h=135&crop=1)
AT&T Hints That It Might Introduce Usage-Based Pricing For Smartphone Customers
What do you say when everyone keeps complaining that you can’t handle traffic on your network? If you’re AT&T, you say “We just need to charge more money” and “Our customers who are actually using their phones as advertised are ruining things.” AT&T’s head of consumer services, Ralph de la Vega, told investors today that usage-based pricing is going to happen eventually, and that the company is planning on giving heavy users–who make up 3 percent of their customers–“incentives to reduce or modify their usage.” Somehow I’m guessing he doesn’t mean coupons or cash-back bonuses. [More]
![A Glimpse Into The Future Of Broadband With Time Warner Cable](../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/030909-001-twcdashboard158.jpg?w=158&h=158&crop=1)
A Glimpse Into The Future Of Broadband With Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is running a pilot program in Texas where they’re metering your bandwidth usage and charging extra if you exceed your monthly allotment. This also gives them the opportunity to create a tiered system where you pay more for more bandwidth. Richard is a TWC Texas customer, and his story is a good example of how things work in a tiered, metered system like this. The bottom line: if metered broadband comes to your area, get used to paying extra to take advantage of things like Hulu (which is free) or Netflix video streaming (which you already pay for).
![Time Warner Cable Testing Bandwidth Caps In Texas](../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/con_oldmeter.jpg?w=300&h=205&crop=1)
Time Warner Cable Testing Bandwidth Caps In Texas
Ars Technica reported yesterday about a memo from Time Warner Cable (that first showed up on a DSL Reports forum and has since been verified by Retuers) that indicated TWC might soon launch a trial program of bandwidth caps and tiered pricing, aka “Consumption Based Billing.”