AllThingsD » mobile data

AT&T Plan Would Let App Makers Pay for Subscribers' Data Use

Anton Troianovski — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:06:38 +0000

AT&T Inc. is preparing a service that would let content providers and developers of mobile applications pay the wireless carrier for the mobile data its customers use, the carrier’s network and technology head John Donovan said in an interview Monday.

Mr. Donovan likened the service to toll-free calling for the mobile-broadband world. The move comes as carriers are hunting for new ways to make money on the rising data traffic on their networks, while mindful of limits on what consumers are willing to spend.

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Sprint May Cap Data Roaming on Laptops

Roger Cheng — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:35:00 +0000

Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) said laptop customers using an excessive amount of mobile data while roaming could have their accounts temporarily suspended, though the carrier still doesn’t plan to limit the wireless connection for its high-volume smartphone customers.

Sprint is changing its policies for data service for laptops users with mobile broadband cards or USB modems, a spokesman said. The changes won’t apply to smartphones, he added. Sprint declined to break out how many customers are on one of the $59.99 monthly mobile broadband plan.

Sprint already has a cap of five gigabytes of data usage within the network, and 300 megabytes of roaming data. Starting July 11, excessive data roaming by mobile laptop users could lead to Sprint suspending the off-network service until the customer’s next billing cycle, unless the customer opts into a plan with extra charges for off-network usage.

Sprint will be able to notify broadband customers through a text message or e-mail when they hit 75 and 90 percent of the roaming data limit. The plans include five cents per megabyte on the Sprint network and 25 cents when roaming.

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That 48 Percent Obviously Doesn’t Include iPhone Users

John Paczkowski — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:18:18 +0000

Nearly half–48 percent–of Americans would drop their mobile data service completely if they were driven to it by the souring economy.

That’s the conclusion of a new study by Strategy Analytics, which found that consumers are not so taken with mobile connectivity that they’ve completely lost site of household budgetary constraints. Especially if they’ve got broadband at home; just 10 percent of the 1,100 households surveyed would be willing to cut wired broadband service to save money.

Said Strategy Analytics VP David Mercer, “These results suggest that, while American consumers consider home broadband service to be a vital utility, they see mobile data service as simply a ‘nice to have.’”

That might be the case now, but I wonder for how long. Wireline broadband is far more mature than mobile broadband, so it makes sense that it’s viewed more as necessity than luxury. But as devices like the Apple (AAPL) iPhone and Palm (PALM) Pre become more ubiquitous, it seems inevitable that “nice to have: will become “must have.”

[Image credit: Mobile Phone Throwing World Championships]