Recently I have read articles discussing the dilemma AT&T faces with their cell phone network. Supposedly 3% of their users, are consuming 40% of their network capacity.
My first inclination is to see them preparing to raise data cost plans to something tiered.
They obviously have huge problems with smartphones, such as the iPhone.
BUT who caused the problem?
They literally forced fed everyone purchasing an iPhone a data plan.
They gouged an extra 30+ dollars out of every person wanting the technology.
Try to buy an iPhone without a data plan. You can’t.
So they roped a whole group into HAVING to pay for data, then they are surprised that they actually USE it?
If data was never an included, forced, feature, many of these people would have perhaps fallen back to wifi networks for access.
Apple and AT&T regularly portray themselves as concerned about a good customer experience. Yet, their devices uselessly roam cities daily. The desire to lock in revenue subscriptions, and forced data plans has partially caused the problem. The next complaint will be that since no one can make a phone call, text messaging is choking the network.
The cause of the problem is a policy which generated use to justify the cost being charged.
The solution is non-exclusivity. If AT&T can’t handle the network mess they created, allow competition to handle the details.
If the 3% of users using 40% had options, many would not stay on AT&T’s network at all. Problem solved.
Quit the blame shifting AT&T