Telco's billing plans are going to have to be rethunk as the new generation 4G LTE phones come into place.
Hacks testing Verizon's new 4G LTE network have warned that it is possible to burn up your entire 5GB, $50 monthly allotment in less than 32 minutes. PC Mag points out that the 2010-era speeds are being stuffed up by the 2005-era thinking on data plans.
It seems that the telcos have been pricing LTE on a par with 3G. While it can manage huge downloads it is priced a too high to use it. LTE could manage about 21Mbps with the wind behind it and downhill, but if you were downloading 5GB at that speed, it would only take you 32 minutes.
Most of these speeds are thanks to the fact that only hacks and Verizon employees are on the network but Verizon thinks that when it is running properly you will get 8.5Mbps.
Unless you want to get some serious bill shock it is fairly clear that heavy users will have to stay off the LTE network and do your heavy downloads from your PCs on a DSL line.
Going to need another cunning plan
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