LAS VEGAS -- Early adopters of mobile broadband who take advantage of unlimited monthly downloads and uses that fall outside carriers' terms of service should enjoy it while they can, according to a top executive of Verizon Wireless.
Some subscribers to Verizon's BroadbandAccess use it for network-intensive technology such as streaming video from a Slingbox network video distribution device in the home to a notebook PC, said Dick Lynch, executive vice president and chief technical officer, at a press conference Wednesday at the CTIA Wireless trade show here.
Verizon knows this and lets them do it even though they are using much more of the network's capacity than are typical users, Lynch said. In fact, the carrier has no plans today to block subscribers' use of the Slingbox over the mobile network, Lynch said. But he warned that tiered services with higher prices are probably on the way.
"I don't think you ought to assume that for the long term you're going to be able to pay the same amount as the ... more casual user and be fair to all our customers. So I think you'll find over time that the amount of usage that you demand from the network each month will in fact have to ... drive the pricing structure," Lynch said.
Price Points
BroadbandAccess runs on EvDO (Evolution-Data Optimized), a version of CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) that offers average speeds of 400-700 kilobits per second and a peak rate of about 2 mbps. Verizon currently charges $60 per month for the service with a two-year contract and a qualifying voice plan. The service provides unlimited home airtime usage "when browsing the Internet, accessing the Intranet, or reading e-mails" according to Verizon's Web site. The service can be used on handsets, PC cards, and notebook PCs with built-in clients.
The picture will change for those heavy-usage applications once mobile operators get more subscribers to sign up for such 3G (third-generation) high-speed services, which in most places have been available less than two years.
"They work very well today in an environment where the networks are admittedly lightly loaded ... and I'm not only talking about mine, I'm talking about everyone's network. At some point, in order to provide you the same grade of service for that application, we're going to have to differentiate the grades of service," Lynch said.
CTIA continues through Friday.
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