New wireless pricing: more data, bigger bill

Working up a holiday shopping list? New cell phone, iPad Mini, Netflix subscription - check, check, check. Now don't forget the wireless plan that makes all those family gifts work on the move. Pricing has changed dramatically since last year.

Phone calls and text messages come in unlimited quantities in the latest featured deals from the big four wireless phone companies - Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile USA. The competition lies in data. "Data" means the stuff consumers increasingly gobble up as they use wireless devices to browse the Internet, download or update apps, play online games and watch videos. Consumers have gotten used to buying a data plan for each device. Now, however, the wireless industry has split. Sprint and T-Mobile continue to pitch their offer of unlimited data plans for cell phones and other devices such as tablets. Verizon and AT&T have introduced shared data plans. These allow a household to connect up to 10 devices - phones, tablets, hotspots - to one pool of data that they share. The key: It is a limited pool. Shared data pricing means consumers have to pay more to use more data. It's just like the traditional cell phone plans that charged more for more minutes of voice time.