Oh geez, we have TWO Captain Obvious moments here. This one is from the Wall Street Journal… Tell us something we don’t know!
This is NOT just an iPad problem. Any mobile device which has access to a high speed network connection will consume media quickly and therefore, run into their monthly data plan allocations rather quickly. Using a headline like this is sensationalism at best.
As the article later mentions, this leads to a conundrum of sorts. My personal take is that the solution is somewhere in the middle. Carriers are going to eventually have to adjust their pricing/allotment models while users are going to have to adjust to not being able to eat-at-will, as most have with their home broadband connections. Carriers could offer for heavy users, something akin to a very high cap, but needs to price these tiers, reasonably. The data usage plans now offered aren’t what I consider reasonable. Part of that blame though goes to the way (at least in the U.S.), how wireless spectrum is allocated.
If the carriers were less bandwidth constrained, then they could start offering data access plans which are quite competitive against traditional cable/DSL providers, especially considering how much faster LTE is proving to be over those technologies. As I’ve mentioned before, I’d dump a wired upstream connection in a heartbeat if the terms and pricing are fair and reasonable. Mobile carriers are looking for a new revenue stream…. the ball is in their hands to figure out how to capture customers like myself who are willing to pay a fair price for connectivity if it can replace wired broadband without the typical cellular gotchas (like having to pay additional fees for tethering, too low data limits, inability to use certain applications, etc).
