Kiss Flat-Rate Data Goodbye: Here Come the 4G Phones

It’s almost here. 4G cell phone networks and the way-faster data transfer speeds that come with them are about to get switched on. Now, your Smartphone will feel . . . even smarter.

And Verizon will be making you pay for that.

Presumably all carriers will be doing the same, so Verizon only deserves credit for opening the floodgates. But Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam is on record: fixed-cost all-you-can-eat data plans will be going away for 4G SmartPhone users.

Telecommunications companies have a rich history of charging more for things that actually cost them less; how else can you explain the 20-cents-per-message charge for text messages for those of us who don’t buy bundles? And Mr. McAdam had acknowledged that it will actually cost Verizon less to deliver data over their new 4G network than it does on the current one.

So is the rationale that when you use a 4G phone you’ll be pulling so much more data that Verizon needs to cover their big corporate backside?

Possibly, but as a fairly heavy user of a 3G Droid SmartPhone I’m skeptical. This is all about getting more money.

That’s OK; Verizon is in business to make money. My issue with them on this is that in enacting this business change they’re treating their customers like we’re all too stupid to see through them.

And today’s lesson is this . . . Don’t Ever Do That.