Like AT&T Mobility’s earlier move, Verizon Wireless introduced tiered 3G/4G prices, and is discontinuing a flat fee for “unlimited” data. While the majority of current Verizon Wireless 3G/4G subscribers will only feel the effects of the new usage-based data contracts at subscription renewal, Verizon Wireless appropriately introduced some new free tools for usage-based subscribers to track their monthly data usage now. They include:

• #DATA - Customers can check data usage by dialing #DATA and pressing send from Verizon Wireless phones to receive a free text message with the information.
• My Verizon and My Verizon Mobile - Customers can monitor data usage directly from their handsets via My Verizon Mobile or online through My Verizon.
• Data Usage Calculator - At verizonwireless.com, customers can learn about common features and activities that utilize data and determine estimated total monthly data usage using the Data Usage Calculator. It can be found by simply searching for “data usage calculator” on the Verizon Wireless website.
• Data Usage Widget - Customers with data plans also can download a Data Usage Widget to most Android^TM smartphones, BlackBerry® devices and tablets. The widget tracks usage with a quick glance at the phone screen and with one click connects to the customer’s My Verizon Mobile account.

There’s nothing wrong with these tools per-se, except:

1. Each requires that subscribers perform new behaviors, which people typically do not like to do.
2. All mobile providers tell us that a small number (less than 5%) of subscribers exceed the standard limits on “unlimited” data plans. If a comparably small number of users are the “problem,” why not ask them to take on new behaviors like those above? Why require everyone to change?
3. In the future when Verizon Wireless introduces its anticipated family shared data plans, tools like these must track usage across multiple devices. But just like yesterday’s new price structure and tools, it’s a virtual certainty that the company will introduce both concurrently.

But more importantly, what Verizon Wireless is doing reminds me of the TSA’s approach to airline security, which nobody likes but everyone must endure. But unlike the TSA, mobile customers:

(1) Have other provider choices, which at least some will prefer. I don’t see Sprint dropping its unlimited plans anytime soon.

(2) Will loudly complain to the media, consumer protection groups, government bureaucrats and elected officials, which they will do. The last thing mobile providers want is any incremental regulatory scrutiny or oversight. Given the increased scrutiny the industry is already receiving from AT&T’s earlier introduction of tiered data prices and its planned merger with TMo, it’s a mystery why Verizon Wireless would go ahead now (vs. wait) on any major (unwelcome) change.

If the country’s largest providers introduced usage based billing along side of “unlimited” data plans, it would expand, not contract, subscriber choice. Billing systems are flexible enough to offer both unlimited and tiered plans simultaneously. Maybe it’s part of a plan to reintroduce “unlimited” plans  at a higher rate (once LTE is more geographically ubiquitous).

But one thing that’s a no-brainer: these recent provider moves, combined with the prevailing mood throughout the country, signal the beginning of the usage-based mobile data saga. We are far, far from the end of it.

Tags: Mobile UC, Mobility, Unified Communications Information //