NetworkWorld by Craig Mathias, regarding the new unlimited plans and their place in the wireless landscape. He spends much of the article talking about competition and price wars, plus how the unlimited plans, given a reduced rate, could come to replace landlines. I’m all on board with that, and have discussed it a few times in the past week. Another profound effect of unlimited plans by the major carriers, notes Mathias, is that it might entice more customers to choose prepaid. Yes, the major carriers will still have their normal, under-$100 postpaid plans. However, the unlimited plan really brings an idea to light. As Mathias notes:
As for the prepaid cellular guys, these plans are also getting more reasonable, and will likely become the default for those who either don’t want full-time unlimited cellular or who find the remaining pay-in-advance/use-it-or-lose-it terms unacceptable.So what these unlimited prepaid plans are doing is emphasizing the “use it or lose it” mentality of the carriers’ other plans. If you go out and get a 600-minute plan and pay, say, $50 a month for it, you’re paying that $50 no matter what. Unless you go over, of course. So the idea is that those who go over will move to unlimited, because they appreciate the lack of restrictions. Those who go over, then, would go to prepaid, since they’re not so keen on paying for minutes they don’t use. This has always been the case in prepaid, but the point is that these new unlimited plans really highlight the benefit of prepaid. Either you pay for only what you use, or you pay to have no limits. It seems that the intermediary options, then, aren’t so attractive. The only obstacle I see, other than carriers liking their guaranteed income, is data rates. I’m already not so keen on paying $30 a month for data, so you can imagine my chagrin if they altered the rates in a prepaid setting so normal use would come out near or over $30. I’m not saying it’s going to happen. I just see it as a potential obstacle.]]>
Posted in Consumer Issues