Unlimited Wireless Plans Coming

An anonymous reader tells us about a BusinessWeek story claiming that in a few years most wireless plans will be unlimited. And pretty costly: unlimited cell calling, SMS, and data for on the order of $115 - $150 a month. Sprint is conducting a trial of such an offering in San Francisco, with the intent of rolling it out nationwide, and other carriers are said to be sure to follow suit. An interesting claim in the article is that in 5 years time, 40% of the US population will be untethered from landlines and using their cell numbers exclusively (vs. 15% now).

Comments

Yawn...

[sugapablo]

I already get unlimited wireless in Pittsburgh for $44/month from Cricket.

Re:and how many people will wreck their finances t

[Corporate Troll]

At least link to the Userfriendly comic strip, will ya?

Re:Ok, but what about... Emergencies

[Insightfill]

"All my mother-in-law wants is a phone that can be loaded with 100 minutes for emergencies to call a tow truck or her husband and she wants those minutes to never expire."

For true emergencies, any working cell phone can still make 911 calls (or cellular version thereof *999 - whatever). That's free - no carrier, no bills. In many areas, the local police or cell phone stores will take donated old cell phones to give to local women's shelters and to shut-ins for just this purpose.

Look around the house, find a phone from a provider you no longer use or whatever, and charge it up and give it to her. The biggest hassle is usually the battery - those lithium batteries have a 'shelf-life' of about three years before they can hold no charge at all. They hold their existing charge quite nicely on the shelf, but their capacity is what goes down.