3 cutting HSDPA pricing in UK?
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Aug 23rd 2007 8:02PM
posted Aug 23rd 2007 8:02PM
In much of Europe, 3G data is traditionally as expensive as it is plentiful -- a safe haven of wireless email for businessfolk with a corporate card, yes, but that's about it. T-Mobile UK, for example, charges £29 (about $57) for its cheapest unlimited laptop data plan, likely keeping it out of reach of a good fraction of the otherwise interested masses. 3 may be changing the game next month, though, on rumors that it'll roll out a handful of data plans significantly cheaper than its closest competition. Monthly plans of £10 for 1GB, £15 for 3GB, and £25 for 7GB (about $20, $30, and $50, respectively) are said to be in the cards, taking advantage of HSDPA's generous (and now largely underused) capacity. Even better, 3 will allow subscribers to tether their handsets at these rates or pick up a modem; it's not known how much the modem will cost, but a nice, round "naught" is getting tossed around as a possibility for existing customers. All things considered, it looks like carriers are poised to take a different approach to recouping their 3G investments -- popularity over high price -- and we'd say that's a good thing.[Via GigaOM]
Carriers are stupid for wanting to squeeze too much money out of data users. Data usage is a highly discretionary thing, and high price will kill it. Much more money in selling all the capacity at cheaper prices than trying to sell some capacity at higher prices.
T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T are all guilty of that.
3 in Australia already offer 500MB for AUD $20, 1GB for $30, and 2GB for $40.
They also throw in several thousand minutes of Skype calls a month and a few other goodies. Very handy and I regularly get 150KB/sec downloads.
It'd be nice if they uprated the plans to match the proposed UK speeds.
Just checked three.co.uk and I have to say that this news is confirmed. they have rolled out these plans.
3 is cheaper in sweden :).....
99 SEK for 1gb @ 386 kb/s
199 SEK for unlimited @ 3.6 Mb/s
seriously, iphone needs HSDPA.
Edge is already out.