If supply and demand matter, and when access speeds are high enough, then it is easy to predict that consumers using unlimited usage plans, all other things being equal, will use less Wi-Fi for access.
That appears to be the case in the U.S. market, where unlimited usage plans now are offered by all the four leading facilities-based suppliers, says OpenSignal.
In the three-month period starting December 1, 2017, mobile consumers on three out of the four major operators has fallen.
In other words, as unlimited data plans in the U.S. market have become more ubiquitous, customers appear less concerned about finding a “no incremental cost” Wi-Fi connection, leaning more on their 4G mobile networks for internet access..
Both AT&T and Verizon saw the amount of time their customers spent on Wi-Fi fall by three percentage points in the latest period. AT&T mobile customer use of Wi-Fi fell to 49 percent of total usage, from 52 percent in the prior period.
Verizon customer use of Wi-Fi fell to 51 percent from 54 percent. T-Mobile customer usage also fell to 41 percent from 43 percent. Sprint customer usage of Wi-Fi stayed steady at 51 percent.
