This is a poor analogy, because you don't pay a flat monthly fee for your gas usage. The customer is already incentivized not to drive too far to eat at a restaurant because of the fuel expense and the time required to get there.
There are few analogies that work well outside of examples involving utilities, but most utilities are metered rate. The carriers built their current pricing models based on a usage profile that is rapidly disappearing. Basically, they priced their service for a model where the user rarely uses the actual service. Now they're desperately trying to escape their own trap.
Carriers believe that users don't want metered service, and in fact, they don't. Why would I want to expose myself to additional risk when a flat rate service is already available? Carriers captured massive profits when cellular users didn't utilize their plans, but aren't prepared to take the hit when consumers actually use what was sold to them. It's a sham.
