Beware of pricier mobile Internet data plans
 

Prices for cell phone voice services may be dropping, but consumers are likely to be forced to pay a lot more for mobile Internet data plans in the future.

It's no secret that the price of voice services for cell phones is falling. Just last week Sprint Nextel announced it was offering a new $69.99 a month, Any Mobile, Anytime plan that allows subscribers to call any cell phone in the U.S., regardless of the carrier, in addition to such things as unlimited text messaging and data services.

Analysts are predicting a price war in the mobile market as national wireless carriers will soon be forced to offer more minutes of voice service or unlimited voice services for equal or lower prices to compete with each other.

To make up for the shortfall in revenue, these analysts also predict that wireless operators will start reconfiguring Internet data service plans to make up the difference.

"Voice revenue is declining for the carriers," said Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. "And the vision for the future is to use data revenue to make up for the shortfall and to kick ARPU (average revenue per user) into growth mode."

Data usage is already on the rise, and wireless operators are cashing in. For the second quarter of 2009, AT&T reported a 37.2 percent increase in wireless data revenue to $3.4 billion, more than double the total for the same period two years earlier. This usage included messaging, Internet access, access to applications and related services. Verizon Wireless said that its data revenue jumped to over 52 percent to $3.9 billion during the second quarter of 2009.

While text messaging is still a big component of data revenue, which carriers also charge a premium for, Web access is also on the rise. This growth is likely being driven by the sale of more smartphones. Smartphone sales increased 27 percent in the second quarter of 2009, while total handset sales fell 6 percent, according to Gartner. But it's also due to the fact that more people want to do more things with their phones. CCS Insight concluded after a recent survey that the biggest drivers for Web use on mobile devices is accessing social networking sites like Facebook and microblogging sites such as Twitter.

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Re: Beware of pricier mobile Internet data plans
 

thank you for the info on this. im really digging the fact that i can call any carrier and not being charged. i mean its nice to call ur own carrier for free but now being able to call any carrier makes it so much easier for me because i use my phone for work and personal use. and i wonder sense its going to be like this now if mins are still going to be in the plane well they might sense u still can call landlines and use ur mins right?

Re: Beware of pricier mobile Internet data plans
 

i feel as they should have a flat rate and leave it the hell alone all of these price for usage like sms,picture mail etc etc

Re: Beware of pricier mobile Internet data plans
 

it shows that the smartphone world is coming and that basic phones are going to soon be a thing of the past. i dont feel that it is right for them to jack that up jsut because the numbers are going up, why make the voice features cheaper than? if they were smart and kept all the same or added the minutes more would jump on the deal getting data packages and smartphones, if they see the price of the data package that may steer them away.... great find wcked this should bring some interesting discussions to this thread.

Re: Beware of pricier mobile Internet data plans
 

yep,this is a wake up call and valid can you imagine that company that you posted yesterday, do acquires sprint. man oh man price wars..

Re: Beware of pricier mobile Internet data plans
 

yup that would be insane, and i cant see them converting sprint over to gsm since it would need all new towers and that would cost a butt load, but hell this could get crazy if we keep outsourcing like that to stay alove, we wouldnt control anything anymore

Re: Beware of pricier mobile Internet data plans
 

So far it seems like Sprint still has a slightly cheaper data plan than Verizon, so I can't quite justify the switch. I don't think it is going to be possible for TMo to acquire Sprint, there's too many reasons why that would not work.

Re: Beware of pricier mobile Internet data plans
 

we were just talking about this in my store... this is an awesome plan and having to deal with boost mobile, metro pcs, and cricket... i was wondering when the hell someone was gonna make the first move... !!! all this means is more commision for me.. .lol... ;)