I think that is shortsighted because data service does not overlap cell service. Go into a grocery store and try and imessage a photo. If your stores are anything like mine it just won't work, until you defer to sending it via SMS, at which point it sends instantly no problem. At the end of the day I'm not paying for data service, I'm paying for data service plus cell service. I want cell service, it has benefits and is not replaced by data only service.
I think this was the case in past but rapidly changed. As networks are get upgraded to newer cellular standards like LTE, 5G the data becomes pretty much standard.
