Carriers Double Caps On Data to Poach Users

Wireless carriers battling for cellphone customers are offering to "double the data" -- a promotion that has little cost in the near term but which could be trading away future revenue growth.

The new promotions reflect the intensely competitive battle for wireless customers now that virtually every American has a cellphone. Adding data is a cheap way for carriers to sweeten their offers. The plans lower the per-megabyte cost of the data service that subscribers need to stream TV shows, play online games or surf the Internet. But for now, that doesn't matter much, because the carriers are basically drowning subscribers in data they aren't likely to use soon.

(Oct 1)