AT&T Introduces New Data Plans Without Overage Charges

[Glideslope]

Deleted. Found answer.

 

[PLin]

I'm curious what the retention offers will be with the new plans. For the old plans, the retention department was offering 10GB for $80 and 20GB for $100 plus $15 per line if you threatened to cancel. I would imagine they could probably offer 21GB for $90 and maybe 15GB for $80 plus $20 per line now.

 

[Jmausmuc]

Wow!

I'm fortunate enough to almost always be on wifi, be it at home, work or the gym.

Why exactly aren't you playing Pokemon go?

 

[jephrey]

This actually ends up being more expensive in many common scenarios, because the device access fee is now higher. This easily wipes away any savings.

For example:

Old 15GB plan, 4 lines shared: $100 + 4 x $15 = $160/month
New 16GB plan, 4 lines shared: $90 + 4 x $20 = $170/month
​

Dropping cost of data, but raising line access fees, sneaky weasels.

Exactly my scenario. $10 a month for +1GB, no thanks. However, going from 15GB to 20GB would now be a $30 difference instead of the previous $40 difference. So ATT did well making it look more appealing to upgrade but not too appealing for a simple cost reduction in the low/middle of the range.

 

[coolfactor]

I got my first iPhone in 2008 when Rogers in Canada offered 6GB for $30/month (separate from plan fees). I've held onto that quota with a death grip ever since.

Those AT&T plans don't look so attractive... $60 USD for 6GB, which is $77 CAD today. Rogers charges $65 CAD for 6GB on their current plans.

In the Philippines, you can get a 6GB plan for $30 CAD. Western rates are far too high.

 

[nburwell]

Thats not why...IT says you YOU WILL NOT BE MIGRATED AUTOMATICALLY. If you reached the end of our two year agreement, it went down

Both phones were purchased outright. We do not have NEXT.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Worse is subjective in this situation. If you are getting overage charges or are close, I would argue this is peace of mind.

If you are routinely getting overage charges, then you're probably not in the right plan to begin with.

 

[S.B.G]

Why exactly aren't you playing Pokemon go?

Heh, not my style of game.

 

[macbookguy]

If you are routinely getting overage charges, then you're probably not in the right plan to begin with.

If you're over twice in six months. Just bad, awful months that a lot happened in, and most other months you're within 2-5 gb of the 30, this gives peace of mind to not worry.

 

[aristobrat]

From what I see, Verizon's extra 2GB/line only applies to the Large 8GB plan and up. So your plan would be 16GB for $150 ($70 + $20x4).

You're right, sorry, not sure where I pulled a 6GB/$60 new Verizon plan from.

 

[Icaras]

Well, not really...

Old 15GB plan, 4 lines shared: $100 + 4 x $15 = $160/month
New 16GB plan, 4 lines shared: $90 + 4 x $20 = $170/month

Check the line access fees. With that 15GB vs 16GB plan savings, if you have 2 lines, that $10 savings is cancelled out. If you have 3 or more lines, it's a worse deal overall.

You do still get that additional 1GB of data. But is it worth the extra $10 I wonder?

 

[spinedoc77]

What AT&T just did was lower the data costs for the data portion because that is what the FAN discount applied to and just added the additional costs to the line access charge. Sneaky

Yep!! Not only does Verizon have 2gb more per line for the same price, but now my 21% FAN discount is larger on them as well.

 

[oneMadRssn]

There are other scenarios that work out better for consumers with the new plan. That's the way it works when pricing formulas change-- some win, some lose, and the losers complain louder.

The winners could just as well complain about how their previous high rates were subsidizing yours all this time.

True, but look at the numbers, map it out old plan vs new plan vs number of people in family share. The only areas where this is an appreciable savings are high-volume plans split between a small number of people. That is certainly a minority. If a family share has 4+, meaning their line access cost will go up $20+, it only makes sense at the 25GB+ plans.

Sure this will result in a reduction in price to some corner-cases, but AT&T wouldn't have done this if it meant lower prices for the majority.

 

[spinedoc77]

You do still get that additional 1GB of data. But is it worth the extra $10 I wonder?

Well Google and Project Fi think so... Except with Project Fi my 2 line 20gb plan would cost me $440 and no free option to go over.

 

[oneMadRssn]

If you're over twice in six months. Just bad, awful months that a lot happened in, and most other months you're within 2-5 gb of the 30, this gives peace of mind to not worry.

True, though good luck pulling down 2-5GB extra at 2G speeds.

Really that scenario makes me wish iOS had a built-in data usage monitoring that could shut off data once you reach a pre-determined limit.

 

[npmacuser5]

Looks like it is a push price wise when you switch if you have at least 2 phones. Example, the old 2gb $30 plus $25 (2) phones totaling $80. The new 3gb $40 plus $20 (2) phones totaling $80. Net gain, same price, one more gigabyte, and no overages. Devils in the details, will work on it more before choosing the new program.

 

[LarryMagoo]

AT&T is the largest virus in the world!

 

[wche]

The price changes are pretty sneaky. Not a good deal for those grandfathered into the double data promotional plans:

Current grandfathered plans:
30gb: $130 + 4x$15 access fee = $190
20gb: $100 + 4x$15 access fee = $160

New plan:
30gb: $135 + 4x$20 access fee = $215
25gb: $110 + 4x$20 access fee = $190
16gb: $80 + 4x$20 access fee = $160

I would have to drop down to the 25gb plan to maintain my current monthly rate at 30gb! Also, the FAN discounts only apply to the data portion. By increasing the access fees, which are not discounted by FAN, they're increasing profits.

I wonder going forward, if I decide to add an additional line, will the access fee be 20 or grandfathered at 15?

 

[oneMadRssn]

You do still get that additional 1GB of data. But is it worth the extra $10 I wonder?

Initially I would argue it is not worth it unless you routinely coming within 1GB of the current 15GB cap. If you're routinely under 12GB or so, def not worth the extra the $10.

 

[Sandstorm]

Meanwhile here in Canada, we are paying $100 for 2gb and unlimited calls

Meanwhile here in Latvia, we are paying € 9.99 for unlimited LTE data + € 9.95 for unlimited calls & messages.

 

[kevinws]

I'm sure some people who don't use much data will get hosed by this, but as someone on the 15GB family share plan, this works our wonderfully for me. I'll get 1GB more for $10 less. AND no risk of overage if I approach my data cap? I'm thrilled.

I was on the phone lastweek with AT&T and they upgraded me to the 20gb plan for the same 100.00 as the 15gb plan. Don't know if it is still available.

 

[Carlanga]

Hmm. This is surprisingly acceptable.

See below

This actually ends up being more expensive in many common scenarios, because the device access fee is now higher. This easily wipes away any savings.

For example:

Old 15GB plan, 4 lines shared: $100 + 4 x $15 = $160/month
New 16GB plan, 4 lines shared: $90 + 4 x $20 = $170/month
​

Dropping cost of data, but raising line access fees, sneaky weasels.

sneaky sneaky

 

[itguy06]

Well, not really...

Old 15GB plan, 4 lines shared: $100 + 4 x $15 = $160/month
New 16GB plan, 4 lines shared: $90 + 4 x $20 = $170/month

Or for someone like us:
Old 5GB plan, 2 lines Shared = $50 + 2* $25 = $100
New 6GB, 2 lines shared = $60 + 2* 20 = $100

Similar at the 16GB plan.

They seem to be higher if you have more than 2 devices but for 2 it's about the same.

 

[TechZeke]

I'd rather pay for overages than suffer extremely slow DIALUP speed.

Exactly this. I'd rather lose my ass over the $15/GB charge than have my phone bricked until the rest of the month.

 

[mantan]

See below


sneaky sneaky

Kinda like keeping a base 16 model so you can gouge customers an $100 to get a useful amount of storage sneaky...