With Verizon’s unlimited data plan now extinct ^[1], many people are left scratching their heads as to why data plans on smartphones keep getting smaller, and what it means in the long-term. Fortune contributer Kevin Kelleher fears the worst in his blog for CNNMoney.com: tiered plans are a sign of the times, and that soon Americans will have no choice but to bend to the will of the mobile data pricing plan.

The evidence seems compelling, particularly as Verizon and AT&T compare the use of data to the consumption of gas. Customers sign on to tiered data plans in assumption that it is worth the benefit of a smartphone, but there is no regulation on the price per gigabyte of data. Furthermore, as contract cancellation fees continue to balloon to hundreds of dollars, customers are stuck in their plans without a viable option to escape.

Stocks continue to skyrocket for mobile carriers, and Kelleher argues that plans will continue to get more expensive in order to keep those values high. Are smartphone lovers doomed? Maybe, but times are definitely changing.

Read the article at CNNMoney ^[2].