Data-gobbling Android users will likely see bandwidth capped

When Android is selling faster than iPhones, and Android users consume more bandwidth than their iPhone counterparts, other wireless networks have two huge incentives to begin metering Android wireless plans just like AT&T did with the iPhone, rather than continuing to allow Android users to download and stream unlimited data to their hearts' content.

And such limits don't have to be reached in order to achieve their aim of reducing wireless bandwidth consumption; the fact that a limit exist is, in itself, enough to make users think twice before streaming a long video or using a data-intensive app. This development marks another distinction between the wired (as in DSL or cable) Internet, where users can generally do whatever they want with their connections, and the wireless Internet, where strict rules are enforced, where access providers—first AT&T and likely soon the rest—openly limit the amount of data you can suck down in a month, and where net neutrality may not apply. If you're contemplating the purchase of an Android phone, you should probably get a move on. Nothing is impossible, of course, and one of the Android carriers could somehow offer unlimited bandwidth forever. Nonetheless, the likelihood that Android users will continue being able to sign up for unlimited data contracts grows slimmer with each passing day.