AT&T plans first price hike in years for older single-line, family plans
AT&T is set to raise prices on some of its older mobile service plans to combat rising inflation, squeeze more revenue from existing customers, and encourage subscribers to switch to unlimited plans.
AT&T logo on a building
It will be the first increase on the affected plans in three years, Bloomberg has reported. The monthly fees will rise by up to $6 a month for single-line customers and up to $12 a month for those on family plans.
According to AT&T, customers will be able to avoid the price hikes by switching to new unlimited plans.
"We are encouraging our customers to explore our newer plans which offer many additional features, more flexibility for each line on their account and, in many cases, a lower monthly cost," the carrier said Tuesday in an emailed response to questions.
The price hike will mark a reversal for near-term trends in the telecom industry. For the last few years, the companies have been offering discounts, free devices, and other promotions in an effort to compete for customers.
While carriers saw record low churn rates during the pandemic, there's a chance that AT&T's plan could backfire and cause existing subscribers to defect to competitors like T-Mobile and Verizon. It's not clear how many consumers are on the older plans at present.
According to a Recon Analytics mobile customer survey seen by Bloomberg, the rate of customer defections because of the hikes could rise to as much as 1.25% a month, up from 1%. Verizon could be the biggest beneficiary.
Read on AppleInsider
AT&T logo on a building
It will be the first increase on the affected plans in three years, Bloomberg has reported. The monthly fees will rise by up to $6 a month for single-line customers and up to $12 a month for those on family plans.
According to AT&T, customers will be able to avoid the price hikes by switching to new unlimited plans.
"We are encouraging our customers to explore our newer plans which offer many additional features, more flexibility for each line on their account and, in many cases, a lower monthly cost," the carrier said Tuesday in an emailed response to questions.
The price hike will mark a reversal for near-term trends in the telecom industry. For the last few years, the companies have been offering discounts, free devices, and other promotions in an effort to compete for customers.
While carriers saw record low churn rates during the pandemic, there's a chance that AT&T's plan could backfire and cause existing subscribers to defect to competitors like T-Mobile and Verizon. It's not clear how many consumers are on the older plans at present.
According to a Recon Analytics mobile customer survey seen by Bloomberg, the rate of customer defections because of the hikes could rise to as much as 1.25% a month, up from 1%. Verizon could be the biggest beneficiary.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Data shared between 5 family members (in 3 households) 2 of the 3 are VERY low data users and unlimited packages would simply be a waste. 5 iPhones and 2 iPads on the package.
I check every couple mos to see if their new plans offer any $$$ benefit - nope. Over $30 per month more usually. Even if I fall into the $12 price increase it’s still solid $$ to the good.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/apple-silicon-exclusively-hit-with-world-first-augury-dmp-vulnerability
https://9to5mac.com/2022/05/02/augury-apple-silicon-vulnerability/
Hey, it’s cheaper but don't think you left AT&T. And can Mint Mobile add your Apple Watch to your cellular plan? Nope.
Mint Mobile can afford to charge less because they eliminate a lot of benefits (visual voicemail, international roaming, wifi hotspots, etc.) that postpaid T-Mobile subscribers get. There's also no overhead like a bricks-and-mortar store network. From a cellular service perspective it's not much different than T-Mobile's old PAYG prepaid service.
T-Mobile's own prepaid service had some marketing offers: at one point they offered a one-year subscription to MLB At Bat ($20 value) to T-Mobile subscribers. So when you're paying for the premium name-branded T-Mobile service, you're also funding some of those costs.
There are other MVNOs using AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile/Sprint's networks. Some are better known than others: Metro, Cricket, Boost, Straight Talk, Xfinity, Tracfone are a few.
Some of these companies aren't "fly-by-night" operations. Both Straight Talk and Tracfone are subsidiaries of Telmex and America Movil, properties of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim (world rank #16 by Bloomberg).
In the old days, many of these MVNOs didn't have access to the latest cellular networks. Today that has changed and Mint Mobile customers have 5G service where it has been deployed. Also in the old days, there were none or few family plans from prepaid MVNOs so two lines were twice the price as one line.
No, smartwatches are not currently supported by Mint Mobile.
Most of the MVNO brands are actually owned by the Big Three carriers themselves and have been for years. Tracfone/Straight Talk was the main outlier until just recently.
The most important takeaway is the fact that there are alternative plans to the standard postpaid offerings from the Big Three. Some of these MVNOs or prepaid brands are valid alternatives if the usage case works out.
And it’s owned by Ryan Reynolds - talk to me about “fly-by-night” companies.
I have never added any of my Apple Watches to AT&T, because paying $10/mo to do so seems stupid (watches still get to use 911 services despite not signing them up. Dunno if that’s the case still or not).
And FYI, AT&T wouldn’t let me use the 5G of my later iPhones because they wanted me to upgrade my plan, which I didn’t want to do. No such BS with Mint.
Anyway, it doesn’t sound like you have any idea what you’re talking about on this topic. Feel free to keep flushing your money down the toilet tho.
That is incorrect on Mint - it has visual voicemail of course, as well as wifi hotspot at $0 added cost. They are cheaper because they don’t waste a bunch of money on a bunch of BS. They offer a simple service and don’t try to upsell me on cable network packages, landlines, or any other crap. They’re just a cellphone service and keep it as simple as possible. You also pay for the year in advance to get the best price.