5G plans might look very different from the LTE ones we have today.
Take a look at any LTE wireless plan in the U.S. and you’ll find that a lot of them have something in common — they’re unlimited plans that give you access to the best speeds possible.
5G is right around the corner, however, and in a recent earnings call, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson revealed that the company’s pricing structure for 5G plans could look very different.
I will be very surprised if, as we move into wireless, the pricing regime in wireless doesn’t look something like the pricing regime you see in fixed line. If you can offer a gig speed, there are some customers that are willing to pay a premium for 500 meg to a gig speed, and so forth. So I expect that to be the case. We’re two to three years away from seeing that play out.
In other words, AT&T’s 5G service could be offered similarly to most broadband internet plans — you pay based on how fast you want your connection to be.
This would mark big shift in the way we think about and pay for wireless data, so it’ll be really interesting to see how this plays out. Right now, Verizon charges customers an extra $10/month for access to its limited 5G network.
We’re still a couple of years out before 5G becomes readily accessible for the majority of the United States, but as we inch closer and closer to that reality, we’re bound to hear more details about how we’ll pay for the privilege of those blazing fast speeds.
What is 5G Technology?
