Vodafone mobile web costs point to new future

Friday 07 May

The mobile web fun times could soon be over

Vodafone is upping the price it’ll cost you to use the web on your mobile once you go over your tariff’s agreed data limit. That might not seem like such a big deal if you rock an old-school T9 phone and just make calls and send texts. But it shows that the halcyon days of gobbling up as many web pages and emails as you like wherever you are are well and truly over.

Previously, Vodafone hasn’t charged customers when they’ve gone over their fair usage limit. But now it says it’ll charge an extra fiver for every 500MB of data you chow down on. This is most likely down to the fact it’s selling some of the most sought after phones out there, including the HTC Legend and Google Nexus One, all of which consume stacks of data.

But it’s also about the iPad. Vodafone has said it’ll stock the 3G version and perhaps the mobile network is wary of web-mad punters spending every waking hour zipping about Safari and using web-reliant apps constantly. It says the move to charge more is about keeping things fair for all.

What it does show is that the days when using as much data as you like for next to nothing are over. The mobile web costs dear and there’s a good chance we’ll start to see more networks follow Vodafone’s example. It’s been expected by mobile watchers for ages, but this is something to keep an eye on if you’re about to start a new mobile contract and fancy a slick new smartphone.