All Megabytes Are Not Priced Equal

The days of unlimited data plans for wireless data are winding down. As you begin to explore the various data plans for your device or devices, be forewarned. Often the amount charged for a megabyte or gigabyte of data can differ, even though the plans are from the same carrier.There are a lot of Americans clinging to their unlimited data plans. I have friends that are going to great lengths to ensure they get to keep their unlimited plan from AT&T for example. They were grandfathered in. While there are some sweet deals today that are enticing, if they run the risk of losing the unlimited plan in the process, they just skip the deal.

In part, this hanging on to their old plan is avoiding confusion as well as additional costs. InfoWorld has an article that compares various plans at different carriers that shows the amount per megabyte can vary widely, and the only reason for the differences is the type of device the plan is on.

For example, at AT&T, you may pay around 8¢ per MB if you are on the 200MB plan with your smartphone. However, if you are using a MiFi for that 200MB plan, the charge moves up to 18¢ per MB. The same issues arise on the 5GB plans and corporate users have a whole different price structure to deal with.

If you are paying for an unlimited plan, different rates make sense. A laptop or a MiFi device is likely to burn through a lot more data than an iPad or a smartphone is. When you are paying for a set amount of data though, what difference does it make if it is an iPhone or MiFi that is pulling the data down?

It is getting to the point where data plan pricing make as little sense as ticket prices for airlines.