AT&T today introduced new wireless data plans. The existing $30 “unlimited” smartphone data plan is being replaced by two new options: $15 per month for 200MB (“DataPlus”) or $25 for 2GB (“DataPro”). Customers currently on the $30 plan are welcome to stay on it, but they can switch at any time without extending their contract.
- AT&T’s new overage system is arguably the game changer: on the $15 plan, you’ll pay $15 for each additional 200MB, but on the $25 plan, you’ll pay $10 for each additional GB. It won’t bankrupt you if you go over by a few gigs in a month. This compares to $50 per gigabyte of overage on AT&T’s 5GB DataConnect plan for laptops.
- The carrier’s going to be very flexible about changing between the DataPlus and DataPro plans — if you’re on DataPlus, for example, and you discover that you’re blowing past your allotment, you can choose either to start DataPro the following billing cycle, pro-rate it, or apply the higher plan retroactively to the beginning of your current billing cycle.
- Tethering will be offered as an add-on to the DataPro plan for an additional $20 per month, which means you’ll pay a total of $45 a month for 2GB of data shared between your phone and your tethered devices. If you’re light on the usage, it’s a sweet deal — but if you scale it up and you’re using the data almost exclusively on your laptop, it compares unfavorably to the traditional DataConnect plan: $60 versus $75 for 5GB.
- iPad users are also affected by the change. The $30 iPad unlimited data plan goes away to be replaced by the same $25 / 2GB plan that smartphone users will see, though current subscribers to the $30 plan can continue unaffected.
AT&T also offers free Wi-Fi at any of its over 20,000 hot spots, alongside any of the plans above.
If a customer uses 2.01GB of data in a month, you’ll be charged $35, says DailyTech. AT&T says these new plans are better for customers because 65 percent use less than 200MB/month and 98 percent use less than 2GB/month, resulting in lower pricing. You can switch to the DataPlus or DataPro at any time, but you’ll likely lose the ability to ever go back to the unlimited data plan.
A 2-hour movie, even compressed, could use upwards of 500 MB of data — the equivalent of a $5 surcharge.
Apple’s new video chat enabled iPhone arrives next week and is anticipated to increase data usage. In the new plan, 5 Gigs/month would increase from $30/month to $55/month ($75/month if tethered). On the other hand, the overage charges of $50 per gigabyte (over 5 Gigs) using AT&T’s 5GB DataConnect plan for laptops is gone.
