Gosling thinks wireless cellphone downloads bad: is he kidding?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 06 March 2008 16:13

Opinion and Analysis

The expectation that mobile data is still horrendously expensive is thinking stuck in the world of the 1990s or early 2000s - and/or stuck on an expensive mobile data plan.

In today’s world, web apps such as mobile Youtube immediately warn you that you should really be on a mobile data plan that is ‘unlimited’, in the expectation that are either on such a plan, using a Wi-Fi connection, will change to such a plan or will be very careful with the amount of YouTube videos you watch if you are on an expensive data plan.

In Australia, the mobile phone carrier I am with is called ‘3’ from the global telco Hutchison.

They offer an AUD $20 per month plan that gives me a 500MB monthly download limit, which with all my web surfing, radio streaming, Skype-ing and application downloading is still way more than I actually need.

I used to be on the AUD $40 per month plan which gave me 2GB of download per month, but as I never even got close to 1GB of downloads per month, I cut it down to 500MB just to avoid wasting money.

Plans from other companies give you a cap, letting you spend your monthly cap on voice calls, video calls, text messaging and Internet downloads. Granted, on some of these plans, wireless data is still charged at an expensive rate, something like $20 per single megabyte.

But anyone who is a serious wireless data user can find a carrier with a much more generous plan. Perhaps such a plan is not available in whatever country you are in as you read this, or not available in your current location (even if it might be available in the major capital and regional cities of your country).

Wireless data rates are coming down all over the world: witness Apple’s deal with carriers to give iPhone users ‘unlimited’ data plans – even if it turns out, as always, that there are limits to ‘unlimited’.

Blackberry voice and data plans usually come with the ‘unlimited’ moniker for data, while T-Mobile Danger Sidekicks usually come with unlimited data plans too, although often because these devices, like the iPhone, are 2G devices (although there are 3G Blackberries, and a 3G iPhone is coming).

The idea of limiting me to downloading applications to my computer which I then need to transfer via USB cable or Bluetooth wireless connection to my phone is totally ridiculous.

Why should I have to wait until I get back to a computer before I can install any app and start using it?

I don’t have to do so today, and believing so just doesn’t make sense to me whatsoever.

Over-the-air downloads are the future, for any doubters out there, including James Gosling. Find a carrier with a realistic wireless data plan, move to that carrier, and start enjoying the future – that’s already here!