Listen up Canadians, Rogers is bringing back one of their most popular deals. From now until September 30th you can add the 6GB/$30 data plan for your smartphone to a voice plan with a three-year term. You can also share this data plan with another device starting at $10/month per device, with up to four devices being allowed. And new or existing customers on the My10 Promo Plan can upgrade their data allowance from 1GB to 6GB for an additional $10/month.

Eligibility

• You must have a voice plan in order to add the 6GB/$30 and it’s available with a three year term only. Tethering is included at no extra charge.
• For sharing options, your primary line must be a smartphone with a three year term and your secondary device can be any of the following:
  • Tablet
  • Rocket Stick
  • Netbook or laptop with embedded Rocket Stick
  • Rocket Mobile Hotspot

Looks like a pretty enticing deal to go along with a fresh new BlackBerry, I think. If you're on Rogers, do you plan on taking advantage of this offer?

Source: RedBoard

If you're on an unlimited data plan on AT&T, and consider yourself a heavy data user, you may want to pay attention. Like other carriers, AT&T is going to begin throttling speeds once a certain threshold is reached. However, unlike other carriers, AT&T has decided instead of setting a fixed number as the limit, they will simply reduce speeds for customers falling into the top 5% of the heaviest data users. Users will still have unlimited data, and speeds will be restored at the start of the next billing cycle.

The amount of data usage of our top 5 percent of heaviest users varies from month to month, based on the usage of others and the ever-increasing demand for mobile broadband services.  To rank among the top 5 percent, you have to use an extraordinary amount of data in a single billing period.

There will be no changes for the vast majority of customers.  It's not how much time you spend using your device, it's what you do with it.  You can send or receive thousands of emails, surf thousands of Web pages and watch hours of streaming video every month and not be in the top 5 percent of data users.

Chances are, this change won't affect you, unless you use an extraordinary amount of data through streaming tons of video/music daily, streaming remote web camera apps, sending large data files, online gaming, or tethering. If you utilize wifi for these things, you aren't using your data plan, so therefore you won't be affected. The changes go into effect October 1, 2011. You can find full details at the source link below.

Source: AT&T via: TiPb

Smartphones have changed the way that people consume data over the past several years. It used to be that if you were waiting for an email, you had to use a computer to check for its arrival. If you wanted to update a personal blog or check out what was going on with your friends on Facebook, it required logging in on the computer. Need the latest sports scores or stock quotes? You guessed it, computer. The world has moved on from a computer being a requirement. Of course, the smartphone hasn't replaced your laptop entirely, but so much of what used to require a computer can now be done completely on a device that fits in your pocket. It's no surprise that a recent Nielsen report showed that the average smartphone user is now consuming 89% more data per month than they were just a year ago.

As a result of this trend, many leading carriers are moving to usage-based data plans for smartphones. What does this mean for you? If you were lucky enough to be grandfathered into an unlimited data plan, it may not mean much (yet). However, if you aren't one of those fortunate ones, or if you switch providers in the future, you may need to pay very close attention to how much data you are consuming on your device to avoid extra charges at the end of the month.

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Our friends over at Android Central got their hands on all the details of the upcoming changes to Verizon Wireless data plans this morning. If you're still a little confused about what the changes are and how they will affect you, hopefully this will give you the answers you're looking for. It looks like what it boils down to is if you're currently enjoying unlimited data for $29.99/month with your 3G or 4G LTE smartphone, you can continue to do so. If you aren't, you either have two weeks to make that switch, or miss out on it forever. We'll list the main changes for you below, and you can hit up Android Central for an in-depth look at the materials they received.

• $30 for 2GB with $10/GB overage
• $50 for 5GB (this also includes business e-mail at no additional charge) with $10/GB overage
• $80 for 10GB (this also includes business e-mail at no additional charge) with $10/GB overage
• Mobile hotspot access will cost $20 a month for 2GB of data

• EXISTING CUSTOMERS- That have our $29.99 unlimited data plan WILL BE GRANDFATHERED IN, they will keep their unlimited plan after 7/7/11
• EXISTING CUSTOMERS- That current have the unlimited data WILL BE ABLE TO UPGRADE AND KEEP the unlimited data feature (No known end date on this as of this moment)
• EXISTING CUSTOMERS- That add lines post 7/7/2011, will NOT be able to choose the $29.99 unlimited data feature
• NEW CUSTOMERS- Any customer that sets up service from now, until 7/7/2011 WILL BE ON, AND WILL BE GRANDFATHERED into our $29.99 unlimited data package
• NEW CUSTOMERS- Any new customer that set up service AFTER 7/7/2011, WILL NOT be able to choose the $29.99 unlimited plan

For full details from Android Central

Word around the web has been hinting at Verizon Wireless bringing some changes to both their family and data plans. Now it seems that July 7th might be the big day for these changes to go into effect, with tiered data plans and data + tethering plans. Supposedly at this time just for new customers and possibly current customers that are up for renewal, the new plans are shaping up to look something like:

Data plans:

• 2GB - $30/month
• 5GB - $50/month
• 10GB - $80/month

Data + tethering plans:

• 4GB - $50/month
• 7 GB - $70/month
• 12 GB - $100/month

So it looks like tethering is $20 extra per month for an additional 2GB of data. Additional data beyond your plan allotment will cost you $10/GB and tablet data plans will change to $30 for 2 GB. If this information plays out to be true, and you're looking at switching carriers, will it affect your decision regarding which company you go with?

*UPDATE* Android Central now has some more details posted up.

Source: Droid-Life

* Update: Looks like my RIM HAPPY DAY slant on this AT&T news was spot on. I just received some info/quotes from RIM on today's news. Read it below. *

AT&T announced some new data plans today that are going to make a LOT of existing AT&T BlackBerry users very happy and likely also help to make BlackBerry the device brand of choice for new first-time smartphone owners. Be sure to check out the press release below for full details. AT&T customers currently on the the $30/mo fair-use unlimited plan (5GB) can choose to stay on it, but that plan is now being replaced by the new Data Plus and Data Pro plans:

• DataPlus. Provides 200 megabytes (MB) of data - enough to send/receive 1,000 emails (no attachments), send/receive 150 emails with attachments, view 400 Web pages, post 50 photos on social media sites and 20 minutes of streaming video - for just $15 per month. This plan, which can save customers up to 20 percent off their wireless voice and data charges, is designed for people who primarily like to surf the web, send email and use social networking apps. If customers exceed 200 MB in a monthly billing cycle, they will receive an additional 200 MB of data usage for $15 for use in the month. Currently, 65 percent of AT&T smartphone customers use less than 200 MB of data per month on average.
• DataPro. Provides 2 gigabytes (GB) of data - enough to send/receive 10,000 emails (no attachments), send/receive 1,500 emails with attachments, view 4,000 Web pages, post 500 photos to social media sites and watch 200 minutes of streaming video - for $25 per month. Should a customer exceed 2 GB during a billing cycle, they will receive an additional 1 GB of data for $10 for use in the month. Currently, 98 percent of AT&T smartphone customers use less than 2 GB of data a month on average.

If you've been tuning into the CrackBerry Podcasts for the past five months (including our WES 2010 podcast with BGR/Phonescoop), we've been making our prediction for a long time now on RIM's biggest opportunity to continue selling smartphones and signing up new customers by the gabillions, and that opportunity is the return of tiered pricing to data plans. It was inevitable that a carrier would at some point have to offer this type of plan. It's been unfair for a while now. AT&T Wireless indicated that 65% of its users consume less than 200MB per month -- the BlackBerry users out there! -- yet historically they have been paying the same data rate as the bandwith hogs (iPhone users).

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One of the most compelling features of BESX has been kicked to the curb for Verizon users. When Research In Motion released BESX, they clearly made note of the fact BES data plans would not be needed. I'm guessing Verizon skipped over that memo as it's now been confirmed that Verizon is going after the cash grab and forcing users to upgrade their BIS plans to a BES plan in order to use BESX. It all seems pretty shady on Verizons part if you ask me. You can read the full memo sent out to tech support reps after the jump.

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