[IP] Cell Carriers to Web Customers: Use Us, but Not Too Much
Begin forwarded message:
From: Kurt Albershardt <kurt@xxxxxx>
Date: May 11, 2006 11:43:43 AM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Cell Carriers to Web Customers: Use Us, but Not Too Much
<http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB114730710262849676-
lMyQjAxMDE2NDE3MTMxMDE3Wj.html>
Cell Carriers to Web Customers:
Use Us, but Not Too Much
By AMOL SHARMA and DIONNE SEARCEY
Wall Street Journal
May 11, 2006; Page B1
Leading U.S. wireless operators have spent billions of dollars to
offer consumers the ability to connect to the Internet on the go, but
now that such services are gaining popularity, the companies are
taking steps to make sure subscribers don't use them too much.
In the past two years, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. and
other carriers have launched services that allow consumers to log
onto the Web by plugging a small card into their laptops and signing
up for a high-speed Internet plan. Unlike Wi-Fi "hotspots", which
allow Internet access in public places such as coffee shops and
airports, the cellular services allow roving connections almost
anywhere cellphone calls can be made.
But the new services, while offering the convenience of mobility,
come with limitations tucked into their policies that are unfamiliar
to users of land-line Internet connections. Applications that consume
large amounts of capacity are prohibited. In practice, that puts off-
limits popular activities such as Internet calling, video streaming
and using routers that let multiple users share a single Internet
connection.
Verizon Wireless has sent service-cancellation notices to customers
it says are using excessive network capacity. Sprint and Cingular
Wireless, meanwhile, have moved to charge people for the amount of
data bits they wirelessly transfer to their computers each month.
"They market it in such a way that you would think it's Internet-on-
the-go, then they start piling on restrictions," says Bill Roland, an
information-technology administrator in Ocala, Fla., who uses a
Sprint high-speed connection. "What they want you to do is just
basically surf the Internet and nothing else."
Those policies represent a dramatic shift from the nearly unfettered
Internet access consumers have enjoyed with wired high-speed service
from cable and phone companies. The wireless carriers say they are
taking this approach because cellphone networks, which transmit
signals over radio waves, inherently have far less capacity than land-
line networks. Internet applications that consume lots of capacity,
such as movie downloads, are taking their toll on all Internet
service providers, but wireless carriers face an even greater challenge.
...
Kevin Beebe, group president of operations for Alltel Corp., a
smaller national carrier that has its own unlimited-data high-speed
service, predicted the usage-based models would backfire because
consumers are already too used to all-you-can-download plans.
"The pricing scheme is established," Mr. Beebe said. "It's flat-rate
unlimited. That's what consumers are used to, and that's how it's
going to be."
...
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