AT&T Launches Two New Mobile Share Data Plan Options

[Xavier]

Why is the cost per smartphone activation so ridiculous? If they insist on creating a bad deal that we must pay, why not just make it $25 per smartphone activation regardless of data plan?

Why do I have to pay more for a smart phone activation and get less data?

 

[typecase]

I lament these plans as it costs over $100 for basic service for an iPhone. I used to be able to get by for about $75 a year ago for the exact same breatkdown. They carriers are clever though, they know I barely use text messages since iMessage and charge me for it anyway.

 

[CaptHenryMorgan]

Is anyone else really freakin' confused? I'm just glad I still have my unlimited plan and my wife is on an alternating upgrade cycle. New iPhone every year and unlimited LTE.

 

[CEmajr]

Amazing AT&T just simply amazing.

 

[slu]

These plans are such a rip-off it is laughable. I don't know how they release these with a straight face. My wife and I were both gradfathered into unlimited data. Even still, I was quite happy to drop AT&T about 6 months ago. I just wish I had done it immediately when my contract was up and didn't wait a few months before switching.

EDIT: We switched to pre-paid. We now buy our phones outright and currently use Straight Talk, but I when I get an LTE phone, I'll take a look at T-Mobile.

 

[name99]

2-year cost for individual with 16GB iPhone, from cheapest to most expensive (without taxes and regulation fees).

• Absolute cheapest: GoPhone 250 minutes (unlimited text, no data): $1250
• Cheapest with unlimited text and some data: GoPhone 500 minutes (unlimited text, 200MB): $1610
• Cheapest with unlimited mobile to mobile voice: Individual 450 minutes (unlimited mobile to mobile voice, no text, 300MB): $1676
• Cheapest with unlimited voice and text: MobileShare 300MB (unlimited voice and text): $1880
• Cheapest with 1GB+ data: GoPhone unlimited (unlimited voice and text, 2GB): $2090
• Individual 450 minutes (unlimited mobile to mobile voice, unlimited text, 300MB): $2156
• MobileShare 1GB (unlimited voice and text): $3592
• MobileShare 2GB (unlimited voice and text): $2276
• Individual 450 minutes (unlimited mobile to mobile voice, unlimited text, 3GB): $2396

And with 2-lines:

• Absolute cheapest: GoPhone 250 minutes (unlimited text, no data): $2500
• Cheapest with unlimited voice and text, and some data: MobileShare 300MB (unlimited voice and text, 300MB shared): $2632
• Family 550 minutes (unlimited mobile to mobile voice, no text, 300MB): $2872
• GoPhone 500 minutes (unlimited text, 200MB): $3220
• Individual 450 minutes (unlimited mobile to mobile voice, unlimited text, 300MB): $3592
• Cheapest with 1GB+ data: MobileShare 1GB (unlimited voice and text, 1GB shared): $3592
• MobileShare 2GB (unlimited voice and text, 2GB shared): $3832
• Individual 450 minutes (unlimited mobile to mobile voice, unlimited text, 3GB): $4072
• GoPhone unlimited (unlimited voice and text, 2GB): $4180

tl;dr: Depending on your priorities, MobileShare plans could be the best plan (if you must stay with AT&T). FAN discounts typically favor Individual plans, so your bang for the buck isn't quite clear cut. It is unfortunate that AT&T forces its customers to do this silly dance to get best bang for the buck.

There's something wrong with your numbers. I pay $55 a month for "Individual 450 minutes" without SMS. (Basically $40 for voice + $15 for 200MB data.)
24 months of this gives $1320. Add in $200 for an iPhone5, and $36 for an activation charge, and you're at $1556.
(Which about matches my results when I did this when iPhone5 came out --- best available that matches my needs.)

Maybe someone else needs more than 450 min, or more than 200MB of data, or frequent SMS (rather than my once a month use at 20c per SMS). But I don't know why you get such bad results for "Individual 450 minutes". Maybe the 200MB@$15/month data plan no longer exists and its replacement is far worse?

 

[kc2kth]

I saved some with a mobile share plan

So generally the mobile share plans don't really save people money unless you use a lot of voice or not a lot of data. Here's another scenario. I decided that I need to have the mobile hotspot service on my iPhone as a backup to my home Internet as I work remotely on a regular basis. Under the Family Talk plan this meant $20 a month extra plus I needed a 5GB plan. Over the past year my wife and I combined have never used more than 3GB of data. My wife also has an iPhone and had the 2GB plan. Combined we were paying for 7GB of data per month, about 4.5 GB more than we needed. The mobile share plan includes the mobile hotspot functionality in the price and doesn't require such a huge amount of data overhead be carried. This worked well for us and will save us around $240 a year over the Family Talk plan. Just wanted to demonstrate a scenario where the plan does provide savings.

 

[thedeske]

It's refreshing to know that most of us recognize the same old bait when we see it these days.

There is no 'Deal' with these guys

 

[Muscle Master]

I'm glad U.S. Airways gives me a 23% discount.. I'm getting the 450 minute plan, with 3 gigs of data and unlimited mobile to any mobile for $80.79... not too bad I guess

 

[WRP]

Well maybe if you heathens got on the smartphone bandwagon from the beginning you would still be grandfathered into unlimited data! hell, I just switched to Galaxy S4 Active from 6 years of iphone and still have the plan. And people called me stupid for buying the first iphone unsubsidized! Paid off in spades now!

 

[CylonGlitch]

This sums up why I can never leave my grandfathered in ATT unlimited data plan. After my company discount, I pay 60 bucks a month for 450 minutes, 500 text, and unlimited data.

** Unlimited data = 2GB, after that you're automatically dropped back down to 3G speeds and sent nasty grams saying if you go over 2GB again you'll be automatically switch to another plan.

 

[m12e]

Did they add tethering as a freebie? I would have sworn when I looked at these (around when vrzn and att both launched theirs), Verizon had tethering and att wanted extra. From what I can see now, ATT is including tethering now and the price for the 2-phone/6GB plan is the same as verizon. Not really sure why people would want a separate pad/hotspot plan if they're using an iphone since you can tether.

 

[adeedew]

Is anyone else really freakin' confused? I'm just glad I still have my unlimited plan and my wife is on an alternating upgrade cycle. New iPhone every year and unlimited LTE.

Problem is that's not even truly unlimited, FYI. I think they still cap at 2-4GB's before slowing you down to edge speeds or something less than LTE for sure, but maybe that's fine for you

 

[nutmac]

There's something wrong with your numbers. I pay $55 a month for "Individual 450 minutes" without SMS. (Basically $40 for voice + $15 for 200MB data.)
24 months of this gives $1320. Add in $200 for an iPhone5, and $36 for an activation charge, and you're at $1556.

I have based my numbers based on plans available today. Your plan (200MB data) hasn't been available for about a year.

 

[CylonGlitch]

Plan 1 Phone
300MB $70
1GB $85
2GB $95
4GB $110
6GB $125
10GB $150
15GB $190
20GB $230
30GB $330
40GB $430
50GB $530

Plan 2 Phones
300MB $120
1GB $130
2GB $140
4GB $150
6GB $160
10GB $180
15GB $220
20GB $260
30GB $360
40GB $460
50GB $560

Plan 3 Phones
300MB $170
1GB $175
2GB $185
4GB $190
6GB $195
10GB $210
15GB $250
20GB $290
30GB $390
40GB $490
50GB $590

Plan 4 Phones
300MB $220
1GB $220
2GB $230
4GB $230
6GB $230
10GB $240
15GB $280
20GB $320
30GB $420
40GB $520
50GB $620

 

[SouthernEFI]

Plan 1 Phone
300MB $70
1GB $85
2GB $95
4GB $110
6GB $125
10GB $150
15GB $190
20GB $230
30GB $330
40GB $430
50GB $530

Plan 2 Phones
300MB $120
1GB $130
2GB $140
4GB $150
6GB $160
10GB $180
15GB $220
20GB $260
30GB $360
40GB $460
50GB $560

Plan 3 Phones
300MB $170
1GB $175
2GB $185
4GB $190
6GB $195
10GB $210
15GB $250
20GB $290
30GB $390
40GB $490
50GB $590

Plan 4 Phones
300MB $220
1GB $220
2GB $230
4GB $230
6GB $230
10GB $240
15GB $280
20GB $320
30GB $420
40GB $520
50GB $620

This. The total cost doesn't scale 1:1 as you add devices. This it whole breakdown is ideal for families and groups of users. It's poor for 1-2 people.

My family (total of 4 devices) went from paying ~$215 for a total of:
2.6GB (1 2GB plan, 3 200MB plans, not shared),
1400 minutes,
and family unlimited messaging

To...

$230 for:
Unlimited Minutes
Unlimited text
6GB shared.
Hotspot functionality for all.

Our bill is much simpler to read, and in the end it will come out to be cheaper over the life of the contract since we constantly had at least 1 $15 overage on one of the three 200MB data lines.

These plans scale, and in the end it's a bad deal for the smaller groups.

 

[blabliblu]

I'm not american but I wonder : even me, living in Europe, I'm not ****ing stupid enough to sign a contract with AT&T.

Who are these american people who still subscribe to plans at AT&T ?

 

[CaptHenryMorgan]

Problem is that's not even truly unlimited, FYI. I think they still cap at 2-4GB's before slowing you down to edge speeds or something less than LTE for sure, but maybe that's fine for you

I hear what you're saying and I've known that to be the case for some but it's not the case for everyone. I've gone over 5GB, which is the "actual" cap, several times a year and never gotten throttled.

----------

I'm not american but I wonder : even me, living in Europe, I'm not ****ing stupid enough to sign a contract with AT&T.

Who are these american people who still subscribe to plans at AT&T ?

People who wanna save a buck now only to pay more over time for the illusion of saving money.

----------

Did they add tethering as a freebie? I would have sworn when I looked at these (around when vrzn and att both launched theirs), Verizon had tethering and att wanted extra. From what I can see now, ATT is including tethering now and the price for the 2-phone/6GB plan is the same as verizon. Not really sure why people would want a separate pad/hotspot plan if they're using an iphone since you can tether.

This is why I keep my iPad Mini as a Verizon device (no contract, free tethering) and my iPhone AT&T (Unlimited data without tethering)

 

[macconservative]

Did they add tethering as a freebie? I would have sworn when I looked at these (around when vrzn and att both launched theirs), Verizon had tethering and att wanted extra. From what I can see now, ATT is including tethering now and the price for the 2-phone/6GB plan is the same as verizon. Not really sure why people would want a separate pad/hotspot plan if they're using an iphone since you can tether.

Yes this includes tethering for each phone on the plan. This is the same with both AT&T and Verizon

 

[powaking]

I'm glad U.S. Airways gives me a 23% discount.. I'm getting the 450 minute plan, with 3 gigs of data and unlimited mobile to any mobile for $80.79... not too bad I guess

My HP discount gives me 25% off voice and data. With 550 plan, 2 iphones (1 unlimited, 1 2gb plan) and a flip phone (no texting plan) I'm looking at $106.

 

[HitchHykr]

What's most interesting about this is, if you have any type of FAN discount, the discount only comes off the "Data" section of your bill.. if you have say, a 15% discount it is actually ~$2.60 cheaper to get the 6GB plan than it is to get the 4GB plan...

What kind of math is that????

4GB for $70 with 15% FAN discount $59.50
6GB for $90 with 15% FAN discount $76.50

Difference is $17 more for 6GB

 

[Tiger8]

I'm not american but I wonder : even me, living in Europe, I'm not ****ing stupid enough to sign a contract with AT&T.

Who are these american people who still subscribe to plans at AT&T ?

I hate AT&T, but it still remains as one of the biggest carriers in terms of coverage and service.

Also, never forget, if it wasn't for AT&T, iPhone would have never existed. Apple needed a partner to jump to mobile business and AT&T took a HUGE risk on the iPhone. It paid off handsomely for them, but still, give credit when credit is due.

 

[crobbins]

What kind of math is that????

4GB for $70 with 15% FAN discount $59.50
6GB for $90 with 15% FAN discount $76.50

Difference is $17 more for 6GB

You have to include actually having the 4 lines. At 4GB each line costs 40 dollars. At 6GB each line costs 35 dollars.

So with 4GB plan you're talking $59.50 + 4 lines @ $40 each = 219.50

With the 6GB plan you're talking $76.50 + 4 lines @ $35 each = 216.50

 

[co.ag.2005]

Can't believe how much they rip you guys off for data in the USA, i'm on the Three network here in the UK and I get UNLIMITED data, 2000 minutes (other networks), 5000 texts, 5000 same network minutes, plus FREE tethering All for just £15 a month ($23).

you do realize that there is a vast difference in land size and population of USA vs. UK... it costs quite a bit more to build out an LTE network in USA than it does in the UK...

but yes, these share plans are crazy... But I'm still sticking with AT&T. 25% FAN discount plus better coverage/speeds FOR ME vs. the other guys.

 

[JoshGlzBrk]

** Unlimited data = 2GB, after that you're automatically dropped back down to 3G speeds and sent nasty grams saying if you go over 2GB again you'll be automatically switch to another plan.

That isn't true. They slow you down after 3GB for 3G devices, and 5GB for LTE devices.

They only send nastygrams when they find you're tethering with that plan.