“AT&T is showing it can get aggressive with pricing too,” Roger Cheng reports for CNET. “The Dallas-based telecommunications company unveiled a new series of family plans designed to entice new users and keep existing ones on its service. The savings — which come only to customers who sign up for monthly installment program Next; bring their own device; or purchase it outright — escalate as more members join in. The plan launches Sunday.”
“The break comes from fees that AT&T charges for each line. Before, customers would pay $100 for 10 gigabytes of data and unlimited voice and text messages, and then pay an additional fee to add smartphones. A contract customer, who received a subsidized phone, would pay $40 a month, while an off-contract or Next customer would pay $25,” Cheng reports. “AT&T is reducing the cost to add a new line to $15. For two people, that amounts to $130, while a family of four would pay $160. If a customers are on Next, however, they would also pay the monthly device fee, which ranges in price but would be around $20 for a typical high-end smartphone, negating some of the savings.”
“The plan, however, is still more expensive than T-Mobile’s,” Cheng reports. “A comparable plan for four people and 2.5GB of high-speed data would cost $140, or $20 less than AT&T. As with AT&T’s new plans, T-Mobile customers must also shoulder the cost of the phone.”
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