When will the price reduction of unlimited packages of the three major operators be unlimited？
Some analysts pointed out that the unlimited package has gone through some adjustments since it went on the market, such as suspending the network after the initial huge traffic. At present, there is no such description in many products. At the same time, speed limit has become a means for operators to balance the differences between different packages, and it has also become a common practice in the market at present, with the aim of avoiding excessive occupation of base station resources by a single user.
The tariff price of unlimited traffic package is falling all the way. From the initial price of 398 yuan in 2017, the first domestic unlimited package product came out, to 199 yuan /188 yuan, which became a common price in the market. Recently, the three operators have successively launched similar products around 98 yuan, lowering the main tariff price of "unlimited" to less than 100 yuan.
status
The price of unlimited package has been reduced to less than 100 yuan.
At the beginning of 2017, China Unicom took the lead in releasing the "Ice Cream Package" with 398 yuan and 198 yuan super traffic packages in China. Subsequently, in May 2017, China Mobile announced the launch of the "Let Me Use" package. For new users, there are two charges of 188 yuan and 288 yuan, including 12GB and 20GB of unlimited traffic respectively, while old customers can provide 15GB of unlimited traffic package at 238 yuan/month. China Telecom also followed the pace and launched Tianyi unlimited package. The package fee was 199 yuan/month. After the domestic traffic reached 40GB in that month, the internet access rate would drop to 3GB. After the cumulative traffic usage reached 100GB in that month, the internet access rate would drop to 128Kbps, and it would resume the next month.
Recently, the Beijing Youth Daily reporter noticed that the three major operators have successively launched unlimited products with a price of about 100 yuan. Among them, Beijing Mobile’s unlimited package is 98 yuan/month. In a business hall of Beijing Mobile, the poster shows that the new promotion price of this product is 98 yuan/month, including unlimited local traffic, 3GB national traffic and 500 minutes national voice. At the same time, mobile optical broadband +4K TV box can be given according to the coverage and specific package stalls.
"99 yuan (during the preferential period) has unlimited traffic, which is shared by the whole family". In a cooperative business office of Beijing Unicom, a poster newly posted by the staff shows that the local version of the recently listed "Ice Cream Package" costs 129 yuan, which is deposited in 100 yuan in advance, and paid to 99 yuan every month. In addition to free local traffic, the package includes 500 minutes of calling, 4GB of domestic traffic and 10 yuan/month/piece (up to two) of supplementary cards, so that calls and traffic in the package can be shared.
At the same time, China Unicom recently launched the "Ice God Card" series of Internet packages, the biggest feature of which is that the national traffic is unlimited, and the 199 yuan version also includes unlimited calls. Among them, the small ice card in 99 yuan is 99 yuan monthly fee, and the domestic traffic is unlimited, including 300 minutes of domestic voice; The monthly fee of the Big Ice God Card is 199 yuan, and the national traffic voice is unlimited.
According to information from Beijing Telecom, the company has recently launched a promotional price, and the monthly cost of products with unlimited national traffic is less than 100 yuan on a regular basis. According to reports, the company offered a limited-time discount in April and May, and Tianyi "unlimited" the national premium version of 99 yuan/month of 129 yuan, and then sent 30 yuan phone bill every month in the first year of limited-time promotion. The contents of the package show that during the preferential period, this unlimited premium version of the monthly package fee is 129 yuan, and the phone bill is given to 60 yuan/month from January to December, and the phone bill is given to 30 yuan every month from 13th to 24th. The package includes "unlimited national traffic" and 500 minutes of national calls, which are free for national answering. At the same time, you can also handle up to two supplementary cards and share the package.
pay close attention
Unlimited packages still have a speed limit.
In a recent interview, the reporter of Beiqing Daily found that these newly launched unlimited packages, although with favorable prices, are the same as the earlier products, and will be limited in Internet access speed after the usage exceeds a certain limit.
When asked whether the unlimited traffic package in 98 yuan still has a speed limit, a staff member of the mobile business hall clearly stated: "The local traffic is unlimited, and after exceeding 40 G, the speed limit will become a 3G network speed." The staff then introduced a "national use" mobile traffic package product to the reporter of Beiqing Daily. According to reports, after the opening of this package, domestic (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) traffic will be used at will, and before December 31, 2018, the package fee will be discounted. 100 yuan package currently has a minimum 10 yuan/month according to different discounts. The traffic packet for my use is not restricted by 500 yuan and 15GB capping. However, the package tip also pointed out that when the domestic traffic in the package exceeds the limit, it will be limited to a maximum of 1 Mbps; When it exceeds 100GB, users can continue to use the Internet without charge, but the Internet access will be limited to a maximum of 128Kbps.
As for China Unicom, the tariff description of the local version of its "Ice Cream Package" in 99 yuan pointed out that after the cumulative usage in the current month exceeded 40GB, the local traffic was limited to 3Mbps (domestic roaming traffic was not affected by the speed limit), and after the cumulative usage in the current month exceeded 100GB, the Internet service was automatically turned off (the cap could be opened after the user applied), and the speed limit and cap were automatically restored to normal at the beginning of the next month.
Unicom’s latest big and small ice cards also have speed limit tips after super-large traffic. It is understood that the Internet access rate will drop to a maximum of 1Mbps when the total data of Little Ice God Card reaches 20GB, and to a maximum of 7.2Mbps when Big Ice God Card reaches 40GB. After the total traffic exceeds 100GB, the Internet access rate will drop to no more than 256Kbps.
In addition, the tariff description of China Telecom Tianyi’s 129-yuan national premium version also pointed out that after the domestic mobile Internet traffic reached 20GB in the current month, the Internet access rate dropped to 1Mbps and resumed the next month.
What will be the impact on users once the speed is limited after the super-large flow? For example, insiders pointed out that the download speed of normal 4G can theoretically reach up to 100M, which is equivalent to a download speed of 12.5M/s, which means that it only takes 84 seconds to download a 1G HD movie in the ideal situation. Relatively speaking, if the download speed is 128 K/s after the speed limit, it may take more than 2 hours to download a 1G movie. "If you are used to using the normal rate of 4G, you will feel very different." The above-mentioned person said.
analyse
Should there be a speed limit for unlimited packages?
Why should operators set a speed limit for unlimited packages? Some people in the communication industry pointed out that this is actually a measure for operators to protect themselves and also a measure to protect other users. According to reports, when the American 4G just came out, a local operator giant launched unlimited packages in order to compete for customers. As a result, the network once collapsed, and it was difficult for non-package users to open web pages during peak hours. Finally, it was found that a small number of users had been hanging their mobile phones as hot spots on the Internet for downloading.
Well-known digital blogger "Communication Laoliu" also believes that speed limit is not a domestic patent, which is a common practice in the world, and operators all over the world do it. The main reason is that wireless network resources are limited, and unlimited speed will lead to great unfairness among users.
In this regard, professionals told Beiqing Daily that due to the limited bandwidth resources that a base station can carry, at present, the bandwidth of a single base station ranges from tens of meters to hundreds of meters, so in a certain area, the number of users who can support normal Internet access is also limited. If more and more people engage in high-traffic operations for a long time, such as watching high-definition videos online, downloading them continuously, and using them as WiFi hotspots for other people or computers to surf the Internet, it will greatly increase the bandwidth load of the base station. When the accumulation exceeds the capacity, it will cause others to get online. Suppose there are more than a dozen or twenty users downloading continuously for a long time, and each user has to divide the bandwidth of 5M, so it will be difficult for other users to get online, and they may not even be able to get online or QQ.
"In fact, the internet access rate after the speed limit is 128 K/s, and under normal circumstances, the speed of downloading by 200 people at the same time is also around 100 K/s, and the operator does not have ‘ Deduct ’ The user’s Internet access rate is to let the excess users return to a fair state for all users. " The above-mentioned person said.
focus
Unlimited package will be the future trend.
Fu Liang, an independent telecom analyst, pointed out that since the unlimited package was launched, it has undergone some adjustments, such as suspending the network after the initial huge traffic. At present, such a description has not been seen in many products. For the "unlimited" packages expected by the public, Fu Liang believes that speed limit has become a means for operators to balance the differences between different packages, and it has also become a common practice in the current market, with the aim of avoiding excessive occupation of base station resources by a single user.
Is it possible to realize unlimited and unlimited traffic packages in the future? If possible, when will it be realized? Fu Liang believes that there is no limit or speed limit, and it is not realistic under the current network bandwidth conditions. The load of base stations in 5G networks is greatly increased, which is possible on the whole.
Fu Liang said that on the whole, unlimited and unlimited speed is definitely one of the future trends. However, he also believes that no restrictions at all do not necessarily mean the "unification" of packages. More likely, there will still be package demand at different price points in the market, and packages with different thresholds and conditions at different price points will still have demand and existence.
In the future, with the further improvement of network conditions and the further increase of traffic supply capacity, people’s attention to traffic may be weakened. Fu Liang believes that by then, for the packages provided by operators, the traffic scale may no longer be the main concern of users. Therefore, the package design and billing model may also evolve and divide into different content, different functions and services.
Text/reporter Ren Xiaoyuan