[August 02, 2011] Study: Most smartphone users aren't so smart about data plans Tweet Aug 01, 2011 (The News-Gazette - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- If you have a smartphone, chances are you are paying for a plan that provides you with more megabytes of data than you use, according to a consumer advocacy group. "The stereotype is that smartphone users are devouring large chunks of data," said Patrick Deignan, spokesman with the Chicago-based Citizens Utility Board. However. according to an analysis by Houston company Validas for the Citizens Utility Board, that's not always true. More than 96 percent of smartphone users in the Validas' sample (19,000 cellphone bills) consumed less than 2 gigabytes of data. Smartphone users averaged about 456 megabytes of data a month. How consumers use their phones does not match with their plans, he said. "The suit doesn't fit," he said. CUB said 70 percent of 19,000 bills analyzed over three years were found to have about $331 a year in wasted minutes, texts, megabytes and other services the customers did not use. "One of the confusing things is how to grasp how much data they are using," Deignan said. A light user may use 24 megabytes a month, sending and receiving about 50 emails, 100 web page views and post 10 photos. On the opposite end, an extreme user could send and receive 5,000 emails a month, 5,000 web pages, 500 photo posts, download 100 apps, games or songs, stream 25 hours of music and 20 hours of video, bringing their total to use to 4.8 gigabytes. The organization has published a guide to cellphone data plans and made it available on its website, www.citizensutilityboard.org. CUB's cellphone saver, which debuted about three years ago and analyzes bills to find ways to save, can be found at www.CUBcellphonesaver.com. Customers need to be signed up for online billing with their cellphone carrier in order use the saver. The organization also has information on its site about prepaid cell phone plans. "Dollar for dollar," prepaid cell phones are a better deal, but not if you want the latest Android, iPhone or BlackBerry phone, he said. The Citizens Utility Board said it supports several reforms and called on the industry to offer lower-tiered data plans (such as a plan for 500 megabytes or 1 gigabyte), family share plans (such as 2 gigabytes for a family of four) and offer rollover data so customers can cash in on unused megabytes for reward points or billing discounts. Carolyn Schamberger, Verizon Wireless spokeswoman, said the company has "streamlined data plans and usage-based options that allow customers to select the plan that best matches their wireless needs." In addition, the company offers tools to help its customers monitor and manage their wireless usage and avoid unexpected higher bills. To see more of The News-Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.news-gazette.com. Copyright (c) 2011, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]