{"id":45301,"date":"2012-03-08T21:58:41","date_gmt":"2012-03-08T19:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=45301"},"modified":"2012-03-09T08:46:57","modified_gmt":"2012-03-09T06:46:57","slug":"new-ipad-highlights-need-for-flexible-data-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/gadgets\/45301-new-ipad-highlights-need-for-flexible-data-plans.html","title":{"rendered":"New iPad highlights need for flexible data plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new iPad’s faster data speeds will likely impress consumers, right up until they get a nasty surprise in the form of increased wireless service fees.<\/p>\n

To counter the shock, analysts say AT&T Inc<\/a> and Verizon Wireless<\/a> need to get creative with their data pricing.<\/p>\n

Apple Inc’s U.S. iPad partners AT&T and Verizon Wireless base their mobile Web access fees on customer usage, unlike Sprint Nextel<\/a>, which does not sell the iPad but still offers unlimited data use for a flat fee.<\/p>\n

Buyers of the new iPad who use it a lot on the go may end up paying more than the typical monthly fees, which start at $15 at AT&T and $20 at Verizon Wireless.<\/p>\n

Some may opt for a Wi-Fi<\/a> only iPad in order to avoid service provider fees entirely.<\/p>\n

But if operators adjust their data plans, they could avoid upsetting existing subscribers and maybe even attract new ones who might have been leaning toward Wi-Fi only, according to analysts.<\/p>\n

“In our view, current tablet data plans offered by AT&T and Verizon seem ill-matched for the new LTE iPad, which has the potential to consume a lot of data,” Guggenheim Partners analyst Sing Yin said in a research note. “However, a multi-device data plan could make the LTE option more attractive.”<\/p>\n

Telecom executives have realized for some time that their pricing models for tablets are unattractive. A vast majority of consumers have voted with their wallets by opting for Wi-Fi only versions of previous iPad models over the tablets with connections to the carriers’ networks.<\/p>\n

As early as May 2011, Verizon Wireless told Reuters it was looking at data service plan changes.<\/p>\n

Verizon Communications Inc Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo told an investor conference last month that his company would come out with some form of account-based billing by the middle of this year: People in family plans or corporate accounts would be able to share a single bucket of minutes.<\/p>\n

This would not eliminate usage-based billing but would give customers with multiple devices more flexibility.<\/p>\n

“You have enterprise customers. You have family (customers) who have a number of devices in their portfolio where they would just want to pay a price and share the data instead of buying an individual data plan for each phone,” Shammo said.<\/p>\n

Such changes could go a long way toward encouraging use of the iPad on the cellular network, UBS analyst John Hodulik said in an interview ahead of Wednesday’s launch of the new iPad.<\/p>\n

“That will promote people to buy more devices that are connected to the cellular network,” Hodulik said. “People are very focused on how much data they use.”<\/p>\n

Verizon Wireless is a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new iPad’s faster data speeds will likely impress consumers, right up until they get a nasty surprise in the form of increased wireless service fees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":340871,"featured_media":45163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[36,5504,9655,39,2438],"class_list":["post-45301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gadgets","tag-active","tag-aple","tag-fran-shammo","tag-ipad","tag-ipad-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45301"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/340871"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45303,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45301\/revisions\/45303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}