Folks,
I didn't say that those with unlimited data plans (of whom I'm one, by the way) are getting a "free ride." No more than those who have six kids in school are getting a "free ride" in terms of paying taxes for education. However, a family with six kids is relying upon families with a single child to pay the same amount of taxes to support the local schools. That's what "socialism" is; equality of payments even in the face of inequality of outcomes.
I happen to believe that for services like education that approach is an excellent model. Even childless families derive a benefit from having an educated citizenry and those with six kids should not be expected to pay a "user-based" fee for their kids' education.
On the other hand, I don't see the social benefit of one person who downloads email, surfs the web, and occasionally watches a YouTube video paying the same level of support for a cell network as someone who downloads 30 gigabytes of movies every month. If those folks want to clog the network with their downloads, it seems fair to me to ask them to pay for the privilege. Of course I understand that those with unlimited data plans are loathe to give them up. When I purchased a new cell phone a couple of weeks ago I was happy to find that my grandfathered unlimited data plan carried over to it. But the fact that I benefit from this inequity doesn't make it a good policy.
As noted above, I think cell carriers are blood sucking leeches. And the fact that they've found themselves with a problem is, as far as I'm concerned, their just desserts. I just find it somewhat amusing that many folks who find any sort of "socialism" abhorrent are more than willing not only to accept its benefits for themselves and are even willing to defend it as a fair allocation of benefits in relation to costs.