There’s something very curious about the 200MB Data Plus plan. That number, 200MB, wasn’t chosen randomly. Now that I’ve been reading all these bloggers out there (like my friend, Webomatica) posting their usage over the past six months, I’m noticing a pattern. Most people are right around that 200MB mark most months. As am I. Some months it’s 190MB, some it’s 230MB. But somewhere close to that number.
Now, think about the price for overages. AT&T charges $15 more for an additional 200MB, if you go over the 200MB limit. If you are on the Pro plan, which costs $25, you only pay an extra $10 for an additional 1GB.
So they charge more for 200MB than for 1GB of extra data.
Here’s my theory: AT&T is betting that most of us will switch to the 200MB plan, because we’ll figure that we’re close to that most months, anyway, and if we go over, it’s just $15 more, which puts us at the same $30 we pay now. If the incentive instead leaned us toward the $25 Pro plan for 2 GB, we’d all be paying $5 a month less to AT&T, which would translate into a real loss in revenue. Almost none of us is going to go over the 2GB, so there’s little or no chance that they’ll get that extra $10 out of us for going over 2GB.
So they capped that $15 plan exactly where they needed to in order to minimize their losses while still trying to generate goodwill about these changes. Smart business.
But you’re not fooling me, AT&T. I’m moving to the Pro plan and saving myself the $5 every month, rather than taking the chance of maybe saving $15 once in a while when I don’t go over that 200MB limit.
