Data hogs to pay

AT&T, the nation’s largest phone company, is putting the kibosh on all-you-can-eat data plans for mobile devices, which could squeeze new users of popular mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad.

In an effort to get more money from data hogs, AT&T unveiled a new pricing system that could cost heavy users at least $60 a year extra while giving everyone else a discount.

Starting next week, AT&T mobile phone customers will have the option to pay $15 a month for a 200-megabyte plan and $25 a month for a 2-gigabyte package, which is enough to watch roughly 15 hours of streaming video. Every gig over 2 gigs will cost an extra $10 a month per gig.

Currently, AT&T customers pay $30 a month for unlimited data, and existing customers will be allowed to continue with that plan regardless of whether they change contracts or phones, the company’s spokesman said.

The company said 98 percent of its smart-phone customers use less than 2 gigs of data a month, but 3 percent of its customers use 40 percent of the bandwidth.

Experts expect the amount of bandwidth used by typical consumers to grow over time, as more people switch over to gadgets like the iPad, which are ideal for streaming videos.

“The real concern is for devices like the iPad,” said Barclay’s analyst James Ratcliffe, who said he could easily see iPad users going through 10 gigabytes a month if they use it as their primary form of watching television.

Heavy bandwidth users are expected to jump to other one-size-fits-all services such as Verizon and Sprint, although AT&T is currently the only service provider for the iPhone and the iPad.

Also, Verizon executives have made comments that suggest they, too, are looking to move to a tiered payment system.