Mobile Web Costs And Services

The New York Times has a pretty good outline of the costs of using the data services of different US carriers, as well as the speed of the network. Some quotes…
“One thing you have not heard me mention purposely is anything called megabytes,” said Bill Stone, a Verizon Wireless marketing executive. “We don’t want to heap that complexity on the consumer.”
But Mr. Rojas of Engadget advises consumers to stick to the unlimited option. “With a metered plan, you could find yourself stuck with a $150 bill because you unknowingly had your e-mail application on your phone automatically pulling e-mail and you got a huge attachment,” he said. “What are you going to tell the carriers – ‘I did not mean to download it’?”
One interesting aspect is that most of the carriers still use 2G or 2.5G networks, so could have offered these data services for years, but it wasn’t until 3G services were launched and a significant amount of content was made available for mobile phones that it started taking off…I suppose the improved handsets help as well.

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