Right up to the cap....

I see that O2 has become the latest operator to clamp down on mobile data usage - and at least has rather better-tiered offerings than AT&T's rather cynical options.

But I'm wondering if operators are making the same mistake as usual - assuming that, on average, people will only use xx% of their allotted quota.

Because I can forsee several scenarios in which people might use all of it, or at least 90.

It would not be very difficult to install an application which tracks your usage and the day on which it expires. Then, there could be the option to:

- wait until near the end of the month, then use any spare capacity to bulk-download and pre-emptively cache sites or content you might want to watch subsequently. There's probably a clever ad-supported model in there somewhere

- If you resent the imposition of the cap, you could be spiteful and just have the "up to the limit" app generate traffic for the sake of it. Added bonus: by visiting lots of random websites, you trash the supposed "customer data" that's being gleaned so you can be advertised-at

- Wait until near the end of the month, then offer any surplus data to friends / others via a tethering function. You could even try and create an auction application to attempt to resell it, although that would probably contravene a ton of T's and Cs.

- Donate spare end-of-month capacity to a charity - there must be *some* philanthropic use for a free mobile pipe.