AT&T Blinks First in Data Deals

AT&T announced that it will be ending its unlimited mobile data plans, going forward. We predicted this move recently after seeing the data on data usage. iPhone users, in particular, use an enormous amount of data, all out of proportion to other smartphone users. But it's no just iPhone users who are causing a problem. The rapid proliferation of all kinds of smartphones has put a strain on the nation's mobile networks.

AT&T announced that current mobile data users with unlimited data plans ($30 a month) will be grandfathered in. But new customers will be offered plans starting at $15/month for 200 MB of data, and will be able to purchase additional increments. Users will also receive text messages from AT&T as they approach the data limits.

The questions now are, who will be next and which carrier, if any, will hold out? The conventional wisdom has been that once one of the carriers did this that the other majors would quickly follow suit. However, some have speculated that a carrier like, Sprint, which trails the others in market share, could decide to continue to offer unlimited data plans as a way to get back into the game.