Rather than simply cutting off data services to users who overstep their bandwidth limits, Asian carriers are sending warning letters to heavy mobile data users who approach their monthly data usage limits. Korean carriers SK Telecom and KT are launching the warning systems. A typical data plan in the country allots a user 1 GB per month, with overage fees for use beyond that. A recent report described a Korean man who used 4 GB and had to pay about $1,059 in overage fees. The Korean data plans are similar to Verizon Wireless' Broadband Access and Sprint Nextel's Power Vision plans, which allow users to connect their laptops to the Internet via data cards. Usage alerts are uncommon if not unheard of in the U.S.
For more on the usage alerts:
- see this article from Wireless Week