Jun 18
Okay. Take a deep breath now. Bloomberg ran a story this morning which is being misinterpreted by some as Verizon following in AT&T’s footsteps lowering caps on 3G data plans, when it looks to me like nothing of the sort.
In the story, Verizon’s CFO John Killian is clearly talking about the carrier’s upcoming 4G network. Verizon execs have consistently said that the 4G network would have different types of data plans than the 3G system. CEO Lowell McAdam has several times proposed a sort of “data pool” approach where you buy a certain number of gigabytes which you can then share over several 4G devices. (We reported on this in May, among other times.) McAdam has said that’s the best way to achieve “500 percent penetration,” meaning each US household having five mobile devices.
For the record, Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney said there are no current plans to change Verizon’s 3G smartphone data plans.
Motorola Droid and HTC Incredible users seem to be using much more 3G data than iPhone users do, if the Bloomberg story is to be believed. Killian said users of top Verizon smartphones consume 600-800 MB of data monthly. When we checked the data usage of six iPhone owners here at PC Mag, we found they used more like 200-400 MB monthly. Perhaps iPhone users spend more time on Wi-Fi?
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