Verizon and AT&T disappoint with no new 4G Data News at CES

Reading the blogs and talking to friends at CES 2011 in Las Vegas, there are not too many happy campers when Verizon released their Samsung LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) Mifi. Many with the naked eye thought that it would be great as expect download speeds of the MIFI were of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) Mobile Broadband coverage areas would be loved by all. Now when they were told at CES that the pricing would stay the same, many turned away. Verizon is going to charge $50 for 5GB and $80 for $10GB, many think it is outrageous. Don't worry AT&T has similar plan that are all capped.

I have read notes from Verizon and AT&T saying people will never use that much data in a month, however not sure what planet they are living on. At the time you talk to friends who travel all the time, using Netflix and other services like Sling Box on their 3G cards. They say it is not too hard to use your data plan in a week. Both carriers could have made a big splash at CES by announcing they would give unlimited 4G data like Clear and Sprint.

Few new 4G phones that were shown at CES

Now however I did like a few new 4G phones that were shown at CES by the carriers, very cool and very fast. Nevertheless looking at it from the other side, I just wonder how long it will take the carriers to put a bad data plan limit on 4G phones? People I talked to at CES said they think it will be coming. Cisco just announces they will be using the Verizon network for their new tablet, you think people will be mad at Verizon for a capped 4G Data plan on the Cisco tablet? The capped data plan and overage charges could be an enterprise killer. Engineers will think one way at this stage not a problem, yet the CFO will think another way.

Larry Chaffin Ph.D is the Chief Executive Officer/Chairman and founder of Pluto Networks, a Consulting and VAR partner specializing in WAN acceleration, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), WLAN, telepresence and security

Riverbed reseller

Pluto Networks is a Riverbed reseller. Pluto was before a Cisco reseller now in June, 2010, ended its reseller relationship with the company and is no longer a Cisco channel partner.

Pluto Networks specializes in the needs of small, large and enterprise companies by always giving them a great ROI on the products they sell. Pluto Networks has a presence in 23 countries around the world enabling all of its consultants to be virtual. Larry was a Judge at Interop for the Best of Interop Awards for 2009 and is looking forward to the 2010 awards in Las Vegas.

Managing Cisco Secure Networks, Skype Me, Practical VOIP Security, Configuring Check Point NGX VPN-1/Firewall-1,Configuring Juniper Networks NetScreen & SSG Firewalls,Essential Computer Security: Everyone's Guide to Email, Internet, and Wireless Security, How to Cheat at Microsoft Vista Administration, Microsoft Vista for IT Security Professionals, Asterisk Hacking, 2008 VoIP and Video Conferencing, Infosecurity 2008 Threat Analysis and author of Building a VOIP Network with Nortel's MS5100, along with co-authoring/ghost writing eleven other innovation books for VIOP, WLAN, security and optical technologies. Larry is currently working on a follow up to Building a VoIP network with Nortel's MCS 5100 Book as then as new books on Cisco Telepresence Networks, Practical VoIP case studies and WAN Acceleration with Riverbed.

Larry as well has more than 29 vendor certifications and has been working on many others. Larry has been a principal architect around the world in 22 countries for many Fortune 100 companies designing VoIP, security, wireless and optical networks. He has expanded over time as well to include application acceleration. Larry is working with worldwide company however out of Asia as a Special Assistant to the CEO and CIO as they go through organizational and network changes, helping them with strategic advice from his years of experience.