AT&T revives unlimited data plans for DirecTV & U-verse TV subscribers

Posted:
in iPhone
AT&T is briefly resurrecting the concept of an unlimited data plan for its smartphone customers, but with the catch that subscribers must also have DirecTV or U-verse TV, and pay a high monthly fee.




The new Unlimited Plan (link currently non-functional) costs $100 per month for a single smartphone, and an extra $40 for each additional phone line, AT&T said on Monday. A fourth one can be added for free, though the discount is only being credited back after two billing cycles.

The carrier is generally charging $40 per tablet. People can, however, opt to pay $10 instead and get just 1 gigabyte of data. Cellular-enabled smartwatches and some other "connected devices" cost $10 to add.

The plan will only be available for a limited time, though it can be kept after the promotional period ends.

AT&T has fought to push customers off of its older unlimited data plans, which were officially nixed for new subscribers in 2010. Starting next month, fees for them will increase by $5 per line.

Until September the company was also throttling speeds for unlimited plans when data exceeded 5 gigabytes per month. It then shifted the ceiling to 22 gigabytes, also relaxing the conditions for throttling to periods of network congestion. This was likely in response to a $100 million fine from the Federal Communications Commission, accusing the company of misleading marketing.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    boeyc15boeyc15 Posts: 986member

    Yea, got the $5 dollar notice last week. They indicated they where doing me a favor --- '...our first increase in 7 years'.

    Silly me--- I thought telecommunication costs were going down, not up! 

    In general, I'm not a big data user... I should figure out this quagmire of plans / prices (which I view, along with Cable plan prices as a complete obfuscation scam) and how my company discount applies. 

  • Reply 2 of 8
    Yea that's an f'ing ripoff! If you want the business AT&T then you need to cut that price in half at least especially if you want people to use your TV service and pay for that as well.
    redgeminipa
  • Reply 3 of 8
    jddcjddc Posts: 10member
    just another example of why I dropped att....
    redgeminipa
  • Reply 4 of 8
    horvatic said:
    Yea that's an f'ing ripoff! If you want the business AT&T then you need to cut that price in half at least especially if you want people to use your TV service and pay for that as well.


    Actually, the prices aren't nearly as bad as you'd think compared to the competition

    First line:

    AT&T: $100
    T-Mobile: $95
    Sprint: $70

    Second Line:

    AT&T: $140
    T-Mobile: $140
    Sprint: $130

    Third Line:

    AT&T: $180
    T-Mobile: $180
    Sprint: $190

    Fourth Line:

    AT&T: $180 (with $40 bill credit after 2 billing cycles on new plan)
    T-Mobile: $180 (with similar T-Mobile 4th Line Free Promo)
    Sprint: $250


    Disclaimers: Currently, Verizon is not playing ball with unlimited data plans.  All of these prices are before taxes and device payments on your respective carrier

  • Reply 5 of 8
    I am not going to pretend to understand the business model with these carriers. What I do know is I should have 1 data plan that takes care of all my devices for a low cost. To pay $50 for my phone plan (Business Plan with 300+phones on it), $10 for my iPad, $10 for my iPad Pro is crazy ($40 for unlimited). Laptops should have built in LTE also. I want to use my devices without worrying about "connecting". Should be seamless. This is another area where Apple needs to get this right for the users. To pay over $100 per month for data use is crazy. If I do the lower plan it is still $70 bucks for data which is nuts.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member

    Okay today I pay $100 for 15Gb and $15 each smart phone (no contract phones) and we have 4 on it so they total cost today is $160 plus taxes, For an extra $20 all lines would be unlimited data until they throttle you as some point in the future, and you know they will read the fine print it is unlimited until it is not.

    AT&T is really trying to get people on Directv, I know when I went in the store a week ago they were quick to ask if I was to sign up which I told them I was customer since 97 so they ask if I want the new security service they offer, which I said no thanks. They asked me if all my equipment was new since AT&T will install all new equipment for free where Directv use to make you pay some portion if you struck a deal with them ( never paid full price and a few time they gave it free)

  • Reply 7 of 8
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    I am not going to pretend to understand the business model with these carriers. What I do know is I should have 1 data plan that takes care of all my devices for a low cost. To pay $50 for my phone plan (Business Plan with 300+phones on it), $10 for my iPad, $10 for my iPad Pro is crazy ($40 for unlimited). Laptops should have built in LTE also. I want to use my devices without worrying about "connecting". Should be seamless. This is another area where Apple needs to get this right for the users. To pay over $100 per month for data use is crazy. If I do the lower plan it is still $70 bucks for data which is nuts.

    I have an LTE wifi hotspot which is $20 on my plan and my laptops and ipads just connection it automatically without issue they know the home network is primary and when it not available it switches automatically to the hotspot. It actually better than having built in LTE on your laptop since you will have to pay for each device verse one device being shared.

    BTW, you can pool your all your phone on a single plan and share the data, in the past it use to be call minutes. I worked for a couple of computer, granted larger than 300 phones more like in the thousands and I know the company use to pool the minutes and data. as long a the total did not exceed some number it did not matter if had a few super users. It is call better negotiations and knowing what to ask for.

  • Reply 8 of 8
    I do not understand why prices keep increasing. I pay $90 a month for unlimited everything ATT grandfathered in. And I'd get a new iphone for $200 every 2 years. Now to get the same deal w/ 15gb data its $120 a month. And $750 for the phone. Shouldn't technology be getting cheaper?
Sign In or Register to comment.