O2 UK follows AT&T’s lead, introducing even more restrictive data plans 24
Thu, 10 Jun 2010 3:17 pm EDT 
Apparently we should get ready to say our final goodbyes to unlimited data, as our favorite cellular plan feature is not looking long for this world. At least that’s the message we’re getting from AT&T and now O2 UK. AT&T announced their new data plans last week, with unlimited going the way of the dodo and now topping out at 2GB for $25 a month, with the option to purchase additional gigabytes at $10 a pop.
O2 UK has taken a similar approach, though they’re offering even less to start. Plans will range from £25 for 500MB and 100 minutes to £60 for 1GB and unlimited calling (all plans include unlimited SMS and Wi-Fi hotspot access). While AT&T offers the option to add in more data as its needed, O2’s plans call for you to add a bolt-on to your plan, to the tune of an extra £5 a month for 500MB, or £10 for a full gig’. O2 will be sure to help subscribers monitor their plans by shooting out text messages to keep them updated on their data usage.
The press release states that 97% of O2 customers would not need to buy anything more than the 500MB plan, and that that much data is 2.5 times more data than the average O2 subscriber pulls down in a month. We’ll be quick to point out that the average O2 customer also likely has a dumbphone with horrible web browsing capabilities.
The new plans take effect for new and upgrading customers on June 24, until then subscribers can pick up any smartphone on O2 UK (including the Palm Pre, Pre Plus, and Pixi Plus) with unlimited data included on any compatible plan.
Source: O2
24 Comments
The next 12 months is going to be very very interesting.
And why does sprint continue to lose subscribers again?????????
yeah why is sprint losing subscribers? You'll just be paying more for less if you choose any other carrier :p
-Toaster
ive said it before and i'll say again - o2 sucks.
i jumped ship from tmobile to o2 because of the pre, if there is a new device from palm, I just hope palm doesnt go with another exclusive deal with O2 uk.
Just as I was seriously thinking about iPhone 4, they just reminded me why I can't move from Sprint. Well, I will have to wait and see what Palm/HP comes out next and then decide if I would stay with WebOS or to Android.
I got a feeling today's Android and iPhone is like Windows vs. Mac. One is available from all manufactures and the other a locked down system. Unless Steve Job can keep finding new markets, Apple is going to loose this again like last time.
If the carrier is being honest, they are losing nothing with the unlimited plans because "97% of O2 customers would not need to buy anything more than the 500MB plan" which means 97% of the O2 customers are using less than 500MB per month with the unlimited plans. The capped plans are certainly not significantly cheaper than the unlimited plans.
SO WHY SWITCH???
Because they know they are lying and customers will be gouged with the cost of the increasing need for data as mobile devices remain constantly connected.
Wait...so I have a contract at the moment....I get to keep my data plan right, its a 1 month contract that carries on each month.
haha. Palm is giving itself no chance of success in the UK being exclusive on these bunch of idiots! :(
Yeah, uhm AT&T and O2 are following Bell's lead.
Welcome to the future my pigeons.
Are we going to start rating apps by how much data they consume? Maybe you will forego the Podcast Aggregator with auto downloads for the one that defaults to manual. Will you skip the game that saves progress and accesses a lot of data from the cloud, in favor of the games with local saves? Will you skip programs that update frequently?
O2 might be right. My wife has an iPhone. I took a look at her data usage the other day, her busiest month was under 500mb. This is partially because she doesn't work, so she uses her phone mostly at home where it is attached to our wifi network. But mostly its because she uses it to listen to music and play games that are on the phone and don't require data time. I wouldn't be surprised if there are many smartphone owners who use their phones in a similar fashion and are not heavy users of data and can live with 500mb just fine.
I checked my own Sprint data useage for the past 7 months. I do a fair amount of web surfing and music streaming and rarely use the wifi. It is a Bell Curve starting at 844mb in Nov rising to 2.1gb in January and falling to 669mb last month. I have no idea why I used so much data Dec-March and so little last month. I suspect it is because I was uploading a lot of photos taken with my Pre to Facebook for a while and I have slowed down a bit on that.
In Canada the 3 major networks all phased out unlimited data quite a while ago, I managed to lock into a grandfathered corporate plan just as the Pre launched here with Bell.
I don't have a problem with paying for fixed amounts of bandwidth but only if the fees for that bandwidth are reasonable. When Bell sold data separately they used to want $30 a month for 500MB, that is insanely over priced. $15 for 500MB would be more reasonable, 5GB for $30 or $35 is reasonable but the over use charges are still way too high.
The old sales and provisioning method for all data (cellphone or highspeed) used to be based on:
- charge a high rate per month
- provide "unlimited" service
- most customers would then use a fraction of the service
- select customers would abuse the system
The companies were able to remain profitable by charging most customers more than they should have been charging.
Now the new system seems to be:
- charge almost the same fee
- provide only the minimum level of service
- severely punish anyone who uses more than the minimum
So now they keep charging almost the same amounts and punish people who are ahead of the curve.
The other major issue is that they are currently defining standards based on today's usage without anticipating the future growth. The smartphone market is growing and customers are only going to use more data, the plans should leave room for user's habits to change. How are these data plans going to work if we're locked into a 500mb data plan today for 2 years? In 2 years I would expect the minimum to usage to be higher than just 500mb.
Kinda sounds like the way my cable internet services are structured.
this is so gay ('scuze my french)
I pay Verizon $5 a month for an SMS plan with 250 messages. $10 for an extra gig of data sounds like a relative steal. Since I got my Pre in March I've averaged .5 GB/month, so I could use a break on price.
For once I think that we have the perfect system in Spain.
You pay for an amount of data at full 3G speed and after you go over that amount they just drop your speed radically but don't ask for any extra penny.
If you can't live with the crawling experience at the end of the month you just asks for a more expensive plan.
Cheers
JD
+1
that is a pretty brilliant system, although over here we can drink our tap water
Of course... the best system if you can't have unlimited data plans, as long as you are happy with the price, I'm paying 10
Somehow I've got unlimited web browsing for only
Moving away from unlimited data (or minute) plans is a huge step backwards. Just as we are about to rely on the Web for nearly all content our carriers are planning to put caps on usage. It's crazy! We're streaming everything today, and we're doing it on lots of devices. The trend is definitely to put more and more in the cloud.
I have an idea for service providers - raise your rates incrementally for your entire user base and expand your capability/bandwidth/infrastructure. DON'T punish the few who actually use all the services you provide.
I needs ma unlimited data plan LOL!
I just this week signed up for a 2 year contract on O2 UK with a Pre Plus. I am glad I signed up when I did!
Data limits will be more commonplace as the networks struggle with bandwidth. It would be nice to think that the monies would be used to upgrade the networks, but I won't hold my breath...
On a brighter note, these kind of tariffs do eventually lead to a new wave of competition in the market (like when 3 Mobile came to the UK market with unlimited calls and texts).
I'm 11 months into my 24 month contract with Sprint, and I figure I'll need to re-up soon before Sprint does away with unlimited data. I need to lock in the Everything Data for 2 years at the latest possible moment. I just wonder if it'll be on a new Palm device or the Evo.
If the future is going to be charging extra for lots of data usage, then my decision will be driven a lot more by carrier than by hardware (or software, as much as I love webOS).