Texting Profits at Risk as Users Look Elsewhere →

Remember how Neven Mrgan’s text message usage dropped dramatically after the introduction of iMessage? He’s not alone and carriers aren’t thrilled. Sinead Carew, at Reuters:

“Every major wireless operator is seeing some substitution for text messaging,” said Mark Lowenstein, the head of wireless consulting firm Mobile Ecosystem.

Craig Moffett, an analyst for Sanford Bernstein, said carriers have a huge cause for concern as he described text messaging as “the most profitable service known to man.”

The response from carriers? Predictably scummy:

AT&T and Verizon Wireless have moved to stem a texting revenue decline by eliminating cheaper options for smaller buckets of texts. AT&T eliminated a $10/month plan for 1,000 texts in August and now offers only a $20 unlimited plan or pay-as-you-go texts for 20 cents each.

Verizon Wireless followed suit in November by dropping a $5 per month plan for 250 texts. It offers a $10 plan for 1,000 texts a year on top of its $20 unlimited plan.

The 5%

I got a text message from AT&T recently that I’d hit the top 5% of data users. Now, AT&T’s throttling only affects those who’ve still got an unlimited data plan, but even so I figured I must have been consuming a significant amount of data, well above the 2GB DataPro plan that AT&T offers. Here’s what my account says:

The big jump in July?¹ That’s when I signed up for Spotify. I drive a lot, living in LA, so I’m guessing I use Spotify for something like 10-20 hours a month over 3G. I have no idea if that’s a lot compared to other users, but I suspect it’s about average. Even with that, I barely hit the 2GB DataPro limit before getting pinged with a message to cool things down.

Spotify and other services like it that offer mobile streaming are gaining a lot of traction, and are only going to get bigger. I asked AT&T if the 5% cap was a moving target, but all Jackie Vettorino, an AT&T spokesperson, said was that they couldn’t speculate beyond what they’ve already said.²

I have a feeling the 5% is not a moving target and that AT&T has identified it as anyone using over 2GB of data. But if you’re interested in using Spotify, or services like it, the DataPlus plan, at 200MB a month, is not an option, especially with their usurious policy of only giving you another 200MB for another $15 instead of automatically bumping you up to the DataPro plan. And the 2GB that DataPro provides may not be enough either.