Yesterday during our Blackout to protest SOPA, AT&T announced new data plans for their smartphone and tablet customers that will launch this Sunday, January 22. These plans give us customers more data and value.
The new smartphone plans include:
-AT&T Data Plus 300MB: $20 for 300MB
-AT&T Data Pro 3GB: $30 for 3GB
-AT&T Data Pro 5GB: $50 for 5GB, with mobile hotspot / tethering
Those on smartphone plans needing additional data can pay $10 per additional GB on the AT&T Data Pro 3GB and Data Pro 5GB plans; AT&T Data Plus users will receive an extra 300MB for $20.
The new tablet plans include:
-AT&T DataConnect 3GB: $30 for 3GB
-AT&T DataConnect 5GB: $50 for 5GB
Existing smartphone and tablet customers will have the choice of keeping their current plans or choosing one of these new plans, and the current $14.99 for 250MB plan for tablet customers will remain available.
If you are unsure of which plan fits what you need, go to www.att.com/dataplans. This site has tools to help you figure out what you need, including a data calculator where you can estimate usage for your typical month of data usage. Once you are on a plan, AT&T will keep you informed of your usage levels by sending usage alerts as you consume the allotted data within your plan. Say for instance you have the AT&T DataPlus 300MB plan. You will receive a text message when you consume 65% of your data for that month, plus two additional alerts as you get closer to the 300MB provided within your plan.
I encourage you to keep your device’s Wi-Fi turned on because data usage over Wi-Fi does not count against your monthly data plan. Don’t forget that AT&T smartphone and tablet customers have access at no additional charge to AT&T’s 29,000 Wi-Fi hotspots nationwide â the nation’s largest Wi-Fi network. You can get more information at www.att.com/wifiaccess.
In review I feel these plans are tiered at much better levels and very fair. Though when you look at those customers getting throttled on their grandfathered unlimited plans at or around 2GB you wonder about their reasoning for offering a 3GB plan for the same $30. This goes back to my feeling that throttling after 3GB was a much better level to start with. Or if they would just say grandfathered unlimited plan customers will have to select from these new plans effective February 1 as all grandfathered unlimited data plans will be eliminated. That is really what they want and are pushing towards, so why get us upset every month by throttling us? Just piss us off once and do away with them. Oh well we can’t have everything though they may reexamine the throttling level after starting these new data packages!
