Throughout all of 2011, the unlimited data plan has become a thing of the past. Allowing a customer to suck up as much bandwidth as they’d like and only pay one fee was really a draw for some users to join a network. Today, Sprint announced they have plans to end they data buffet and will discontinue unlimited data plans on all phones except those that will be discontinued. If you are using a tablet, netbook or other mobile hotspot, the usage of the 4G network will be capped just like that of the 3G services. Earlier this year, Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile USA have capped their data plans for the same reasons.
Reasons that customers might not like, but with the growing use of smartphones and more things to be downloaded or streamed, a company cannot allow a users to just a “free for all” of data. Some experts said they knew this would happen as an unlimited data plan is not self-sustained, with more users logging on daily, there just isn’t enough bandwidth to go around. Part of the reason that Sprint’s network could hold out a bit longer was the growth of the network didn’t increase in numbers like that of AT&T or Verizon Wireless over recent years.
Another reason is that Sprint rolled out the first 4G network with WiMax that launched in 2008 through Clearwire, which the company owns a stake in, and since 4G is more efficient than 3G the network wasn’t bogged down by new subscribers to the unlimited data plans. Any network that is built will have its limits and the Sprint WiMax was not any different, it was only a matter of time.
There are plenty of studies and stats to show that mobile broadband use is on the rise in recent years. One study showed that smartphones shipped this year will total more than 470 million, which is a 55 percent jump from all of 2010. Another study showed that mobile networks all over the world were operating at about 60 percent capacity, which is usually the time a network starts to build on, and will reach 70 percent in the next 12 months. Clearwire is expected to see a subscriber growth rate of almost 30 percent this quarter alone. One expert predicted that unlimited plans will come back within 3 to 5 years.
