Research concludes that tiered data plans are a win for consumers

By on Jun 29, 2010 at 7:23 PM
mobile June 29, 2010

smartphone-data-consumption-chart

FierceWireless has a great article in which Roger Entner from The Nielsen Company breaks down smartphone data usage obtained from 60,000 cellphone bills. Apart from the fact that more than 1/3 of smartphone users do not have data plans and that 23% overall use no data per month, that data reveals that 6% of smartphone users are going through half of the data consumed. And what data everyone else using doesn’t add up to a whole lot. Although averages are not the best example to point to for a number of reasons, the average smartphone user went through 298MB of data in Q1 2010, up 230% YoY. Despite this growth, the reality is that all but all but 1% of smartphones users stand to benefit from being on a tiered data plan. In fact, on the whole, the only losers when it comes to tiered data are the carriers, as they lose out on revenue each and every time someone cancels their unlimited plan and moves to a tiered plan. There are quite a few other interesting tidbits to be learned from the article, so do hit the jump to check it out.

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  • http://www.dotdosh.com TitanT30

    If the only losers are the carriers, then why did they do it?

    • Dadeboe

      THANK YOU! They must think we were born yesterday.

      • Justin

        Who cares why they did it. Just be happy to save some money if you can.

        And for those 1% who go over, they will make some of their loss back on their overages, and inability to use WiFi effectively.

  • trojandnc

    because the number of people with smart phones will triple in the next 12 months. After uploading all this video, watching you tube, streaming Pandora, transfer 5MB and 8MB pics… we will see how long the consumers win.

  • bob

    slanted research paid for by industry to justify increasing charges.

    yes it’s fair to charge heavy users more.

    but in reality they will not charge anyone less.

    they will just charge everyone more.

  • http://fartmountain.com Jerry Fartwell

    My guess is that iPhones and Android devices are the majority of that 6%. It’s funny, I think I read pretty much the exact same thing about bandwidth usage and Cable companies.

  • CMC

    Consumers don’t win when EVERYONE gets punished for the actions of “a few”. Tiered plans are ok if they are reasonable. The Bastards at att have been ripping people off for years and now it’s getting worse. How about that unlimited text messaging? It costs them nothing for text messaging, yet they gouge customers on that. I don’t want to hear their complaining about heavy data users. Bring all charges in line then make your point. A minimum charge of nearly $100 per month for a line with data/voice/text is beyond absurd. They focus on just the $30 data charge, but in reality, they are making quite a bit of money on voice and near 100% pure profit on texting.

  • RealDeal

    Tiered data has existed in Canada for years, it has allowed the carriers to drag their heels on much needed capacity upgrades. Canada’s cellular data backbone is falling behind some 3rd world countries and the prices exceed them several times over. USA don’t let this happen to you too!

    • Dadeboe

      I don’t know if we can keep it from happening to us but we can try.

  • Ann

    This is the worst article

    Look at the trend. Phone companies hope that consumers do not mind the switch now, so that they can get you later.

    All users usage has jumped dramatically from 2009 to 2010.

  • Miffy

    I would use 3G if I could get any signal with it lol. All this has done is put me off getting a new contract because when I go to places with 3G signal, I stream movies and stuff.

  • Abe Aalen

    I’m always amused with those who buy into the comany line about saving the customer money. If they were really interested in saving people money, they’d allow for an automatic upgrade to the next plan if a customer ever went over on their plan. Not having that feature will set people up to get screwed on their bill.

    Also, really, $20 a month for texting? How about they address that racket? If they’re that concerned about saving the customer money.

  • David Garner

    honestly look at what AT&T has done its simple math 5GB used to cost about .01 cent per MB now the iphone has a 2GB plan for $25! Thats more than doubling the price for data, we lose AT&T wins, oh and you can tether that 2GB for an additional $20. WTF AT&T has no business sense. VZW unlimited data on your Droid $29.99 and pay $25 extra to tether and get 5gb extra tethered data on top of your unlimited phone data. Duh

  • Fattychance

    It’s true only in the very narrow scope of historical data.

    If you ignore the trend that data usage will increase with better services and phone features.

    This is absurd.

    Imagine what happens as Hulu, Netflix, and video chat take off on mobile.

    My daughter (11y/o) blew through 400MB in a fraction of a month last month because she was watching Sprint TV sometimes….not very often.

    None of my normal usage touched it on my iPhone. (~250-300MB tops)

  • Versonymous

    They will continue to make money hand over fist BECAUSE it is a tiered system. They make oodles when you go beyond what your current tier allows. The same way that the carriers make money in that month where you realize that, “Oops, 400 minutes is not enough.” or “Wow! I really sent/received over 1000 text messages last month?” In those months people blow out their tier, they eat the overage, and up their plan. Carrier pockets overage and waits for either a)user to reduce usage and find themselves needlessly paying for a tier level they do not use in an average month or b)user to go over new tier and repeat the process.

  • Chris Beiser

    Here’s an idea: instead of complaining about tiered data, vote with your pocketbook. I believe it’s some $20 less than ATT to get a plan on Tmo with 10GB/ month.

  • http://alghienkad06.student.ipb.ac.id thea

    oh yeah

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