by Catherine L. Tully

This isn’t a good thing.

I’m not going to go over all the details–you can read them for yourself. Long story short–limits on data use are coming. And as a writer–you should be very, very scared.

AT&T has just started charging for data based on useage when it comes to the iPhone. Will this have an impact on you? Probably not…at least…not yet. But as we use mobile devices more and more, we’ll stream video, “tweet”, play music, send e-mail and plug coordinates into our GPS. Data use will continue to rise. And one day in the not too distant future, this harmless “new plan” will wind up hurting us all.

App developers will stop shooting the moon with their ideas and scale back. After all–who will want to buy an app that will hog the data use allotted for the month? Other companies will start following suit and charging for data use–and before you know it–the limits will go down and the price will go up. You know–like how some fast food places start out serving large portions which then get smaller and smaller as time goes on?

I see nothing good here for the consumer. Save five dollars a month now–and pay 10 (or even more) later on down the road. The fact is that once this door has opened, it could start a whole new chapter in computer use. I see the writing on the wall, and I don’t like it one bit.

I have always dreaded the fact that one day we might get charged for the amount of e-mail we send, or the amount of time we spend on the computer. This is our job. The way we make our living. It makes me very nervous.

Big business is getting greedy again. Watch out.

As for me? I’m going to stay on the iPhone/AT&T plan I have as long as I can–and hope for a revolt. Anybody with me?