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Cellphone plans will be all data, with all calls counted as datapackets, within two years. At least, that's what AT&T's CEO toldpeople today, and if anyone would know, you'd hope it would behim... "Imagine there's no minutes," John Lennon oh sonearly sang. "It's easy if you try. No worries aboutoverage, above us only sky." Okay, so perhaps thoseweren't the exact sentiments of Lennon's 1971 classic, but they're thesentiments of AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, who today said thathe believed that cellphone plans could do away with the notion of"minutes" within the next two years. Speaking at the Sanford Bernstein investor conference in New York,Stephenson said "I'll be surprised if, in the next 24months, we don't see people in the market place withdata-only plans. I just think that's inevitable." Stephenson's prediction hinges upon cell carriers decidingthat audio calls are simply another form of data transfer, a laGoogle Voice or Skype services; the problem with this idea is thataudio calls and texting still provide phone companies with the bulkof their revenue, with data revenue coming in at a significantlylower level. Additionally, phone companies currently charge toconnect calls to numbers in their control, which could provide anadditional cost beyond data usage for any carrier that makes thechange. Before AT&T makes the kind of pricing switch that Stephensonpredicts, it'll experiment with other options, includingallowing customers to "share" data plans acrossmultiple devices including tablets and smartphones ( The Wall Street Journal quotes AT&T's Ralph De La Vega as saying that plan, along withothers, is close to being introduced to the market). According tothe AT&T boss, increasing the number and type of devices dataplans support will be "a lift, not a deterioration" tocurrent data usage. Intriguingly, the company is also floating the idea of allowingwebsites or video providers pay for data used in accessing them, inexchange for a financial transaction between the site and the user,with customers' data allowance from their carrier untouchedno matter what. "It's not us going out and mandatingthis. The content guys are coming in asking for it,"Stephenson explained, adding that he's unsure whether or notAT&T will be the first to offer such an agreement, or evenoffer the service at all. "If you don't allow thosekinds of models to flourish, you're going to inhibit thepotential of these services," he said. The future of cell plans looks set to be very different from theone we currently have. If this means that I'll be able tomake a call without a 50 percent chance of it being dropped,that's all I really need to know. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Cantilever Racking Manufacturer , Steel Pallets for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Medium Duty Racks.
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