“Starting Thursday, new and existing AT&T customers can choose from two new plans: Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Choice,” Joe Rossignol reports for MacRumors.
“Unlimited Plus starts at $90 per month for a single line and includes unlimited talk, text, and data at up to 4G LTE speeds,” Rossignol reports. “AT&T Unlimited Plus includes up to 10GB of 4G LTE tethering per line per month, with speeds reduced to a max 128 Kbps for the rest of the bill cycle for eligible devices once the high-speed allotment is exceeded.”
“For a limited time, AT&T Unlimited Plus customers can receive a $25 bill credit towards DirecTV, DirecTV NOW, or AT&T U-verse each month,” Rossignol reports. “Meanwhile, AT&T Unlimited Choice starts at $60 per month for a single line, and includes unlimited talk, text, and data at up to 3 Mpbs speeds, but with no tethering included. Video streams at a max of 1.5 Mbps, aka about 480p.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Competition between U.S. carriers continues to heat up which is good news for consumers!
Hmm… This doesn’t feel like anything hugely consumer friendly. Possibly neutral or negative if you pull out of an older plan that’s better. I’ll let others drill down on the math, but every time I look into one of these, my family plan (now with only 3 iPhones) is still the best rate going.
Notice I didn’t say “deal” going? We’re still paying about $53 per line (including all taxes and such) to share 15GB. Seems pretty outrageous, but the powers that be have convinced us that this is what we must pay the multi-billion dollar telecoms to have a cell phone (which is now an essential, not a luxury) these days.
I’m ready for some real competition and more competitors. It just sucks that our internet and cell offerings in America are so slow, poor, and expensive compared to all of the developed and semi-developed world. :-\
I partially agree and disagree with you. As a long one AT&T & Directv customer I’ve been taking advantage of the new unlimited plan for over a year (we’re moving to Canada now but amazingly it’ll be cheaper to keep what we currently have than switching to Rodgers as long as we keep a PO Box in the US, which is what we’re doing). But the $25 bill credit for streaming and tv makes it cheaper than the 166.20 we pay now. So with the $25 credit for Directv now/Directv, and $90+$40/line (with -40 for 4th smartphone), + our 23% FAN corporate discount, it’ll be about $48 cheaper than our current plan, plus save us $25/month on TV services. So for us it’s a good deal, but you are right for the average consumer who doesn’t use all of these services it’s not a good deal at all.
Yeah, we don’t have Direct TV, so no love there.
I appreciate that Dish and Direct are trying to blow up the local Cox monopoly we have in my town, but other than football, I don’t see a big reason to move over and lose super fast internet (300+ down), a landline, and local TV channels which always seem to be feuding with the 2 dish services.
We’ve done ATT since the first iPhone, but I’m really tired of paying so much and would love to see real competition happen.
Operating off of AT&T’s cell towers on a frequent basis will result in having your account canceled if you don’t keep a minimum use going on the domestic network. I know this because a customer of mine who was in upstate New York keep roaming to the point that AT&T said you’re done and good bye.
We asked them about that, and since they have free use with our plan in both Canada & Mexico it’s not an issue. All you have to do is turn on the option in the myATT app. It’s all good.
The “per line” costs are going up… offsetting the better deal if you have multiple devices.
I wish these companies would stop using the term ‘unlimited’ when it clearly isn’t. It is ridiculous how they get away with it.
Yes, false advertising. Maximum possible data with this plan is about 373 GB. SAD!
UNLIMITED:
adjective
1.
not limited; unrestricted; unconfined:
unlimited trade.
2.
boundless; infinite; vast:
the unlimited skies.
3.
without any qualification or exception; unconditional.
ATT, supposed to come out with the antenna that fixes to the DIRECTV Tanne for Wi-Fi capabilities. If this happens that changes everything with the cable companies and the satellite Internet providers
I’m not sure that’s true, as satellite has proven painfully slower and dramatically more expensive than cable internet access. Hughes Satellite in our area is really a last resort and while it’s better than no internet access at all, just barely.
Meanwhile, I’m wondering if and when the satellite access for GPS data in cars on on our phones will eventually blend and merge with cell data. There are times when there is no cell service and some data stream would be quite handy.
We discovered, partially by accident, that if you load maps on your iPhone, before getting on a plane, even without internet access, it will still track your GPS signal and movement (assumedly) using the TomTom data.
This is an improvement over their grandfathered unlimited plans because this now includes tethering which was prohibited before.
It’s about the same amount I pay now for phone, unlimited texting and unlimited data ($91) but I can’t tether.
Finally something for me to think about.
Translation: “We at ATT employ a business model that relies on more profits per customer. That’s why the new plan will cost more per customer.”