AT&T announced on Wednesday that it has rejiggered its smartphone and tablet data plans, with changes going into effect beginning Sunday, January 22. The bad news is that prices are going up, but at least AT&T is giving users more data allowance to take off some of the sting.
Previous smartphone plans included a $15 DataPlus tier that included just 200MB of data usage per month, and a $25 DataPro tier that included 2GB of data. DataPlus users that went over 200MB would get charged another $15 for an additional 200MB allotment, while DataPro users would get an additional 1GB for $10.
DataPlus is now $20 for 300MB, and Data Pro is $30 for 3GB. If you want mobile hotspot tethering, you'll have to pay an additional $20 for a 5GB DataPro plan. As before, DataPlus users that go over the 300MB limit will have to pay $20 for each 300MB bucket of bits they use in a month, while DataPro users will pay $10 for each 1GB bucket. Also as before, light data users can save a little each month, but get heavily penalized for going over their limit.
Tablet users on AT&T—most of which use iPads—will still have access to a low-end data option. The $15/250MB per month plan will stay, but the $25/2GB plan will go away in favor of two higher-end plans: $30 for 3GB per month, or $50 for 5GB per month. With this kind of pricing, we think it makes more sense for AT&T to simply charge users $10 for every 1GB of data they use, regardless of how long it takes them to use it.
Users that are already on less-expensive monthly plans for both smartphones and tablets will get to keep them until they change data plans, for whatever reason, at which time the new plans will be the only options. Users still on grandfathered $30 unlimited plans will also get to keep those as long as they do not change plans, though they could still be subject to data rate throttling. These increases also come just months after getting rid of all but the most expensive monthly texting plan.
AT&T claimed throughout the process of trying to acquire T-Mobile that customers would not be charged more, but Mark Collins, AT&T Mobility's senior vice president of data and voice products, noted that rising data usage is to blame for the increase. "Mobile broadband has become part of our daily lives-and data usage has skyrocketed," he wrote on the company's blog. "As the AT&T network gets even faster with 4G LTE deployment, and devices and applications become even more sophisticated, it's clear that data usage will surge even more."
AT&T spokesperson Seth Bloom told Ars that across AT&T's customer base, data usage is increasing about 40 percent on a yearly basis. Though prices have gone up, "more data goes along with it," he said, addressing the increasing demand for wireless data use.
Listing image by Photograph by Dave Winer
reader comments
89