AT&T debuts data plans without overages ahead of 'iPhone 7' launch

AppleInsider · August 18, 2016 1:05AM

AT&T on Wednesday revealed new data plans skewed in favor of its higher-end tiers, though also finally eliminating overage fees for heavy users.

The new plans -- taking effect this Sunday -- cost $30 per month for 1 gigabyte, $40 for 3 gigabytes, $60 for 6 gigabytes, $80 for 10 gigabytes, $90 for 16 gigabytes, $110 for 25 gigabytes, and $135 for 30 gigabytes. The 25- and 30-gigabyte plans are significantly cheaper than before, having previously hit $175 and $225, but the bottom tier now has half the data of its old equivalent, and others have been replaced or removed, such as the $20/300-megabyte and $50/5-gigabyte options.

Under the new overage system subscribers will simply see their speeds throttled once they hit their data cap, much like T-Mobile. With previous plans, the company was charging $15 for an extra gigabyte after exceeding any rollover allotments.

AT&T's main competitor, Verizon, charges an additional $5 on most plans to include throttling instead of overage fees.

Carriers will sometimes change up cellular plans ahead of new iPhone launches, hoping to catch a wave of new customers, or at least deter upgraders from switching. The "iPhone 7" is expected to be announced on Sept. 7, and ship on Sept. 16 or 23.

People on existing AT&T plans must opt in if they want the new ones.

redefiler · August 18, 2016 1:17AM

How do these compare with grandfathered $35 unlimited plan data throttle points?

Anyone trigger a throttle recently? What's the current threshold?

lordjohnwhorfin · August 18, 2016 1:19AM

In other news, AT&T is still overpriced, and their coverage still sucks. Oh, and if you're grandfathered into one of their "unlimited" data plans and you think you're getting a deal, write down your usage patterns, do the math and compare with T-Mobile. You'll be horrified by how much you've been overpaying all these years for inferior service.

jvmb · August 18, 2016 1:25AM

The catch is that the cost per line goes up from $15/m to $20/m. Since the taxes are applied to the per line cost and not to the data bundle, that also increases my taxes from $5/m to $6.66/m. For two lines, it would be an increase of $13.32/m.

fallenjt · August 18, 2016 2:07AM

Fck ATT, POS company.

snova · August 18, 2016 2:39AM

so let me get this straight. They went from $30 for a 2GB shared data plan to still paying $30 but now cutting the data in half to 1GB? So if you use 1.8GB every month, now the service slows down 1/2 way through the month.
If you occasionally went over before (lets say 1 once every 6 months), they would charge you a one time $15 and give you another 1 GB. i.e. Give you effectively get a total of 3GB for $45 for that one month. Then next month you go back to $30. Now since they dropped the 2GB plan,they want to lock you in to pay $10 more EACH month regardless if you only need 1.8 GB or face getting throttled half way into the month?
yep.. that sounds like their MO. What a deal.

edited August 2016

snova · August 18, 2016 2:49AM

lordjohnwhorfin said:

In other news, AT&T is still overpriced, and their coverage still sucks. Oh, and if you're grandfathered into one of their "unlimited" data plans and you think you're getting a deal, write down your usage patterns, do the math and compare with T-Mobile. You'll be horrified by how much you've been overpaying all these years for inferior service.

as much as I think AT&T greedy... T-Mobile is worse. They are simply dishonest crooks. After months of phone calls which kept going in circles, I had file a BBB complaint on them just to get my money back after I did a trial which only lasted a week due to poor coverage. Their system can NOT put money back on your credit card, they apply it as T-Mobile service credit. What good is that if you quit their service? Its a sham. Word of advice. Don't buy any equipment from them and Stay away from T-Mobile Post Paid until are 100% sure coverage works with prepaid everywhere you need to use it. You have been warned.

edited August 2016

redefiler · August 18, 2016 6:45AM

stoneham said:

Pathetic. This is the Apple mentality that you all seem to share. Obviously, anything that anyone does right now is in response to the new iPhone which, by most accounts, will be completely underwhelming and still has no known release date.
It's not like there's a competitor's new phone that has already broken pre-order records, raised its company's stock, has been praised as having the best screen ever, far more functionality, new technology, the forerunner of the most popular OS, expandable storage, VR capability, headphone jack (heh), water resistance, wireless and fast charging, included and more powerful stylus, and is released just a few days before AT&T makes this change.
Get over yourselves.

Before I read this, had decided to skip whatever refresh and stick with my iPhone 6s.

After reading your insightful and sobering insights, I've decided to sell my iPhone 6s and buy the iPhone 7. In fact, I think you are totally right and will opt for the more expensive but higher capacity model.

williamh · August 18, 2016 6:52AM

lordjohnwhorfin said:

In other news, AT&T is still overpriced, and their coverage still sucks. Oh, and if you're grandfathered into one of their "unlimited" data plans and you think you're getting a deal, write down your usage patterns, do the math and compare with T-Mobile. You'll be horrified by how much you've been overpaying all these years for inferior service.

Switched from At&t to t-mob a month ago. Was with AT&T like 15 years. Very good service with T-Mobile and cheaper. Free data and texting in many countries. I was in Japan and it was freaking great using SoftBank and docomo service. Previous visits I either had nothing or carried around a portable hotspot.

zroger73 · August 18, 2016 11:44AM

AppleInsider said:

People on existing AT&T plans must opt in to the new ones.

Wait. Do WHAT?

I hope the emphasis is on "opt in" and not on "must".

simply258 · August 18, 2016 11:52AM

Wow in Bahrain I pay equivelant of US$11 for 10GB of 4G with no overage, truly unlimited social network data, unlimited calls on the same network, and 500 minutes to other networks!

https://www.bh.zain.com/en/personal/mobile-plans/prepaid/social-media-local

edited August 2016

johnmcboston · August 18, 2016 12:30PM

"AT&T's main competitor, Verizon" - also charges a fee to apply a phone plan to a phone. talk about a rip-off.

I'm curious if the article prices are with or without the auto bill discount....

macpro · August 18, 2016 12:31PM

zroger73 said:

AppleInsider said:

People on existing AT&T plans must opt in to the new ones.

Wait. Do WHAT?

I hope the emphasis is on "opt in" and not on "must".

That was my reaction. We recently gave up our 'grandfathered in' iPhone plan as AT&T were squeezing us in other direction to make it untenable to continue. No adding iPads meant the need for two accounts. Adding them up was costing far more than a new all encompassing plan but of course no more unlimited data. All these companies play whack-a-mole continuously with customers who always lose.

mrboba1 · August 18, 2016 4:20PM

zroger73 said:

AppleInsider said:

People on existing AT&T plans must opt in to the new ones.
Edited now to read: People on existing AT&T plans must opt in if they want the new ones.

Wait. Do WHAT?

I hope the emphasis is on "opt in" and not on "must".

The edit didn't help - what "the new ones"? The sentence before talked about the new phones. This one talks about the new plans. Just use the actual word.
I must be in a crappy mood - 2 straight complaining/whining messages from me. :-P

rbonner · August 18, 2016 4:40PM

digitalclips said:

zroger73 said:

Wait. Do WHAT?

I hope the emphasis is on "opt in" and not on "must".

That was my reaction. We recently gave up our 'grandfathered in' iPhone plan as AT&T were squeezing us in other direction to make it untenable to continue. No adding iPads meant the need for two accounts. Adding them up was costing far more than a new all encompassing plan but of course no more unlimited data. All these companies play whack-a-mole continuously with customers who always lose.

OK, might be biting here but I see posts like this all the time that complain that the customer is loosing but without any definition of what a win would be. So, what would you consider a win?

larrya · August 18, 2016 5:56PM

zroger73 said:

AppleInsider said:

People on existing AT&T plans must opt in to the new ones.

Wait. Do WHAT?

I hope the emphasis is on "opt in" and not on "must".

This is only tangentially related, but upon hearing this news I decided to check if there were similar changes for the LTE home phone and Internet plans. I had a $120 30GB plan (no cable or fiber in my area) that ran into $160 in overages a few months ago due to a DVR downloading overnight, so throttling instead of charges would be appealing. That didn't change, but there are new plans for home LTE internet - $40 for 25GB and $80 for 50GB. I opted into the 50GB plan immediately! Just wanted to spread the word for those in my boat.

eriamjh · August 18, 2016 9:40PM

digitalclips said:
That was my reaction. We recently gave up our 'grandfathered in' iPhone plan as AT&T were squeezing us in other direction to make it untenable to continue. No adding iPads meant the need for two accounts. Adding them up was costing far more than a new all encompassing plan but of course no more unlimited data. All these companies play whack-a-mole continuously with customers who always lose.

So then this confirms it for me. I have a grandfathered unlimited data plan with my 6+. I'd love to do it again as their plans and my meager 5-7GB data use plus my wife's 1-2GB cannot be beat for the $115/mo that I pay for both phones. I don't want unlimited minutes (don't make phone calls) and I don't want to pay for texts (iMessages only, b*tch), but if they force me to drop, I'll be looking at T-Mobile or Verizon to make a competitive offer to switch.

linkman · August 18, 2016 11:56PM

simply258 said:

Wow in Bahrain I pay equivelant of US$11 for 10GB of 4G with no overage, truly unlimited social network data, unlimited calls on the same network, and 500 minutes to other networks!

https://www.bh.zain.com/en/personal/mobile-plans/prepaid/social-media-local

I keep hearing this sort of thing from people in many countries. Are there any other countries where all of the carriers are gouging the consumers like in the USA?

macpro · August 19, 2016 11:40AM

rbonner said:

digitalclips said:

That was my reaction. We recently gave up our 'grandfathered in' iPhone plan as AT&T were squeezing us in other direction to make it untenable to continue. No adding iPads meant the need for two accounts. Adding them up was costing far more than a new all encompassing plan but of course no more unlimited data. All these companies play whack-a-mole continuously with customers who always lose.

OK, might be biting here but I see posts like this all the time that complain that the customer is loosing but without any definition of what a win would be. So, what would you consider a win?

I wasn't 'wanting bites', are you suggesting I am trolling or something? You must not live on the same planet I do is all I can assume if you don't see some truth in what I am saying. 'Winning' would be a little more competition I suspect but the US cable companies operate what is close to a cartel. All major companies do this, banks, cable providers, and insurance companies for example. MBAs sit in planning rooms with computers running actuary tables and figure out what offers they can introduce and where they'll 'get' the consumer so as to allow them to make a larger profit either by increased sales or more often than not, surreptitious fees that are not obvious. Hence I used the term 'whack-a-mole'.

Our grandfathered in plan was made in a whole different time in the industry, the iPhone was new and it was a gamble. Their solution to current conditions was to stiff us wherever else they could, in that case iPads not allowed on our existing family plan. Another example is we dropped the Cable TV and phone land line many years ago. This last year our 'internet only' plan cost rose dramatically with no special deals while a triple play, i.e. TV, Cable TV and land line phone had special offers lower than internet only. In a perfect world there would be a competitor offering Internet only at a fair price but of course no such entity exists yet in the USA that I know of. Maybe Google in some areas.

Another thing, new cable clients get special deals existing ones don't. None of the "If you can find it cheaper elsewhere we'll match it" in this industry! Comcast offered a no contract special deal for new clients recently in our area as did Frontier who had just acquired Verizon. As an ex Verizon FiOS customer for a decade I was refused the special new costumer deal by Frontier (my argument that I was new to them carried no weight lol) so I cancelled and switched to a no contract Comcast deal which was twice the speed for half the price of Frontier. Of course the Comcast deal's small print is that at the end of 12 months the cost rockets (actuary tables again). So, at the end of 12 months I will see if the reverse situation occurs and I may be cancelling Comcast and switching to Frontier as a 'new customer'. This mole lived on, for 12 months at least! Bite on that ...

edited August 2016

linkman · August 19, 2016 11:59AM

rbonner said:

digitalclips said:

That was my reaction. We recently gave up our 'grandfathered in' iPhone plan as AT&T were squeezing us in other direction to make it untenable to continue. No adding iPads meant the need for two accounts. Adding them up was costing far more than a new all encompassing plan but of course no more unlimited data. All these companies play whack-a-mole continuously with customers who always lose.

OK, might be biting here but I see posts like this all the time that complain that the customer is loosing but without any definition of what a win would be. So, what would you consider a win?

A win would be where the customer pays only for what they use. Such a novel concept! Another win would be that carriers make reasonable profits instead of padding their already fat wallets at the consumer's expense.

macpro · August 19, 2016 12:23PM

eriamjh said:

digitalclips said:
That was my reaction. We recently gave up our 'grandfathered in' iPhone plan as AT&T were squeezing us in other direction to make it untenable to continue. No adding iPads meant the need for two accounts. Adding them up was costing far more than a new all encompassing plan but of course no more unlimited data. All these companies play whack-a-mole continuously with customers who always lose.

So then this confirms it for me. I have a grandfathered unlimited data plan with my 6+. I'd love to do it again as their plans and my meager 5-7GB data use plus my wife's 1-2GB cannot be beat for the $115/mo that I pay for both phones. I don't want unlimited minutes (don't make phone calls) and I don't want to pay for texts (iMessages only, b*tch), but if they force me to drop, I'll be looking at T-Mobile or Verizon to make a competitive offer to switch.

JFYI Since we did this change (see post above) our monthly costs dropped by about $50 a month and that was staying with AT&T. One thing I will say in AT&T's favor, their customer support is head and shoulders better than many other companies I have dealt with in that industry (Apple's is also excellent but not the same industry). Their on line support guy went out of his way to find us a change that would save us money and that included checking our data usage over several years to see if indeed the grandfathered in plan plus additional iPad contracts were a waste of money. Now this doesn't excuse the fact AT&T created the problem in the first place but at least their representative wasn't trained in only selling up. He was also clearly in the USA, well spoken and courteous. I've lost count of the times on a support call to a company I could hardly understand the support person's English, over a very poor line obviously in some far off land.

edited August 2016

AT&T debuts data plans without overages ahead of 'iPhone 7' launch

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