Smartphone Data Plan Study Reveals 9 Out of 10 Users Don't Get Their Money's Worth

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You might be paying a lot of money for smartphone data you’ll never use, says Illinois-based organization Citizens Utility Board (CUB). By how much you ask? After studying 11,000 Verizon bills across the United States, CUB comes to the conclusion that 9 out of 10 users could be paying up to $278 per year for unused data.

According to the study, the average consumer uses only 456 MB of data per month – a fourth of 2GB, which is the lowest data plan available on Verizon. The $278 figure comes from the fact that Verizon’s lowest data plan costs $30 per month. CUB published the Guide To Cell Phone Data Plans on its web site in order to inform consumers about the results of the analysis. In accordance with the study’s findings, CUB calls on the major carriers for three options to be made available to the public – offer lower-tier data plans, offer data-sharing plans for a group of people, and offer rollover data capacity.

CUB’s study analyzed data from Verizon because it is the latest carrier to kill unlimited data plan options after AT&T and T-Mobile.