Is this the end for unlimited wireless data plans?

Have we seen the end of unlimited data plans for wireless carriers?

Did you know that cellular companies are barely making money on voice plans?

Apparently the big operators like Verizon and AT&T are making fractions of a penny per minute in actual profit.

I am sure when you are the conveyer of billions of cellular minutes each month that are being used up by an ever-growing and hungry consumer base, you will see a nice high number in profits — or so one would think.

However, let’s set the record straight and identify the fact that as of five years ago, cellular companies were making exponentially more than they are today and they are not happy with the loss in revenue.

So, how did the cellular companies adjust to regain and recoup the lost profit?

The answer is add-on products like text messaging, picture message and data plans. It is clear that cell phones are more than just phones for more than 50 percent of cellular subscribers in the U.S. alone.

Processing text messages costs the cell phone companies almost nothing, yet they charge quite a bit for people to be able to send one.

According to multiple sources, about 72 percent of all cell phone customers in the U.S. have a texting plan, which is about 207 million Americans.

More text messages are sent daily than phone calls are made.

On average, a person sends 357 text messages versus 204 phone calls per month.

For something that costs virtually nothing for the cellular companies to provide, they definitely have found a money maker and are milking it without question.

Even more than text messaging, the cellular or wireless industry has been inundated with Internet or data traffic.

It has more than consumed the airwaves that we rely on for cellular technology and has been growing far beyond the capacity the cellular providers were ready for due to devices like smart phones, data cards, tablet PCs, etc.

The airwaves are so clogged up now that the FCC is looking to take some satellite spectrum or frequencies and auction them off to the cell phone companies because there just isn’t enough space to handle the growth.

Well, the obvious question is, “What are the cellular providers going to do about the problem and what effect will their solution have on you and me?”

We’ll take an up close and personal look at the answer to this question next week.

- George Bardissi