After announcing a 2 million customer record for the new U-verse service, AT&T also announces how it will be limiting cell data usage. The U-verse service allows a growth of bandwidth across the country that is 3x more than ever seen before. However, if you’re on a cell phone with AT&T, watch those data minutes!
Moving closer to charging special rates for data usage, AT&T is looking to charge more to access data. Especially concerning accessing USENET newsgroups on the go, the plan can have some damaging affects for some subscribers.
Verizon has had already some effect of how one looks with AT&T cell coverage. According to the commercials and there announcement, not only will you now have less areas to use your data plan, but the usage itself is looking to be further limited.
According to the Associated Press, de la Vega said that overall, 3-percent of its smartphones eat up a whopping 40-percent of the network capacity. While he defended the AT&T’s overall network performance (despite whatever Verizon has to say), he did admit to problems that still need to be addressed: problematic hot-spots that include New York and San Francisco which are crammed with data-hogging smartphones. AT&T is considering incentives to keep those subscribers from hampering the experience for everyone else.
In the height of the popularity of the iPhone and with over 5 newsreader apps available for the device, more subscribers are accessing newsgroups on the go than ever. A new fee imposed to subscribers might be enough to trade in the glamour of owning an Apple and might be swayed by the sirens of the waiting Google Android line of phones. Android apps currently carry 2 newsreaders and have phones on networks that do not impose caps or additional fees on data usage.
