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I agree with this. It's a two pronged approach though. Yes, the cost went down for many who moved, and yes it will in many cases and possibly in the aggregate result in a net loss of revenue however I don't believe that's all.
For many others like me it wasn't cost effective to move back then. The tides have turned this and today if I use it like I am already, I could save significant money if I moved off UDP.
What we're not considering though is that 5G is coming, and we're NOT going to be using it like we're using it today. To believe this is to ignore what history has already proven to us. Just as said above, we used to measure data consumption in MB, now we're measuring in GB, and quite possible sooner than we realize we could be measuring it in TB.
5G brings the following advancements, both by design and purpose;
1,000x increase in capacity
Support for 100+ billion connections
Up to 10Gbit/s speeds
Below 1ms latency
Why you might ask, do we need a 1,000X increase in capacity when our current system isn't taxed even at 100GB? That's just it, we don't...yet! But you can bet it's coming. How about 100+ Billion connections, when we're at only c. 142 million subscribers? Well because soon, and again very soon there will be a literal explosion of internet connected devices. We've seen refrigerators that monitor with a camera your milk supply and actually order it for delivery before you run out. But that's just the start.
Soon your sneakers will be internet connected, your bicycle, your car (of course that's already here too), your bookbag, purse, even your wallet (and when you reach for it, nearby stores will know you're in a spending mood and will want to get their piece too). Things we couldn't possibly imagine now as connected devices will become commonplace and even necessary for the coming lifestyles they will bring. So there will be an explosion of addresses added to the internet for all manner of things and cellular wireless will carry much of that, other than those in the home.
10Gbit/second speeds? Really? So in a 32 bit environment, you could transmit in theory 10GB in 32 seconds, and at 64 bits, just over one minute. This is in preparation for 8K video among other data intensive growths.
Less that 1ms latency? Surely this isn't necessary, right? WRONG. Autonomous vehicles are coming and they will be both independent and interdependent. They will be communicating with each other, the street lights, the police, the toll collection systems that are coming, heck, even the asphalt so they can tax you based on the wear your car creates.
As for the extremely low latency it will be necessary since these vehicles will be making millions, billions, possibly trillions of calculations per second and exchanging that data constantly to others connected to maximize traffic flow efficiency, energy efficiency, safety, accident avoidance and even more importantly multi-car collision avoidance (since actively avoiding one accident could essentially set off a chain reaction of other accidents).
They will also take advantage of marketing opportunities. Yes, the cars will deliberately take certain routes to display certain billboards to you and even the billboards will be connected (along with your social media), to time those advertisements that will be best marketed to you and others around you. They will talk to local retailers so that when you need gas it will take you to a station near a fast food store and you'll get coupons sent to the car screen and be able to order your food. The refrigerator will tell the car that you can save money by picking up those eggs and milk yourself instead of waiting for and paying for delivery, since there's a store along your route (which by the way is having a micro-sale for all vehicles in a 1 mile radius). The car's vehicle maintenance system will notify a nearby service station or auto parts store that you're due for an oil change and send special offers to do it now.
In a nutshell, Verizon (and others) offered unlimited data and limited phone minutes before they fully understood that there are only so many minutes in a month, but data consumption could potentially be infinitely larger. Now they realize that because they suffered with these plans when they transitioned to 4G, and now they surely don't want them around when 5G comes.
So there are many ways to look at this but I think it's a part of the learning process and Verizon has learned that they will make more money in the long run by pricing data than by pricing calling, texting, etc. Unlimited data is going away. For the carrier's, sooner is exponentially better than later.
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