AT&T announces Shared Data plans

[HeyCori]

Slightly less rape happy than Verizon's offerings.

I'll probably sign up for the 1GB plan. I'm not grandfathered into any sweet plans so my bill is already full of rape. Neither my girl or I use much data due to the overabundance of WiFi so we should be able to squirt by just fine with 1GB. And the fee for going over is only $15 gigs.

Currently I have a 2GB plan and her a 3GB plan. Our bill is over $170 a month. Under the new plan, we'd pay about $130 (about $150 after taxes and other fees). And on the months when we absolutely need an extra gig (unlikely), the $15 charge is still cheaper than our current plan.

But again, bless the WiFi. If not for that I'd easily burn through that 1GB in less than half a month.


AT&T gets into shared data: 'Mobile Share' plans coming late August | The Verge

In many ways, the concept is identical to Verizon's ? you start with a base price for the data bucket than add a surcharge for each device you attach to it ? though the pricing differs somewhat. On AT&T, for instance, a 1GB plan with a single smartphone attached would run $85; on Verizon, the same setup is $90. At 10GB, meanwhile, you'd pay $165 on AT&T and $140 on Verizon, so the best value depends on your particular configuration. Both carriers charge $10 per tablet, $20 per modem / hotspot, and $30 per feature phone, though AT&T has a tiered pricing scheme for smartphones based on the size of the data bucket ? at 1GB you pay $45 per smartphone, but that goes down to $30 if you choose the bulky 20GB option. That's twice as large as Verizon's biggest bucket, though both carriers charge $15 per gigabyte in overage, a 50 percent increase from their individual plans.

 

[bigkevbosky]

I'm getting really confused.

So 3GB of data on a single phone or family plan costs $30 per month, but 1GB of data on a shared plan costs $40 per month?

So the shared thing - if I have 2 smartphones sharing, let's say 4GB of data, it'd cost me $70 just for the data without ANY devices using it, then $40 for each smartphone?

The way I was reading it is - your primary smartphone is $70 for 4GB with unlimited talk/text and then you add another $40 for another smartphone. If it's not that way, I don't see how this would really save anyone money.

 

[selfcreation]

AT&T = fail we sharing on my carrier is so much better.

let say 2 people on data plans , I add a share option and they share the data they already have...

end of story ,

AT&T share is ... come get bent over backwards with a smile

 

[HeyCori]

It does come with unlimited talk/text and tethering. My current $170 plan includes unlimited talk/text and that's a necessity for us. Right now we're on a family plan but this is what would happen if we tried to go with individual plans.

Me:
450 minutes: $40
3GB data plan: $30
Unlimited text: $20
Total: $90

Her:
900 minutes: $60
3GB data plan: $30
Unlimited text: $20
Total: $110

+ taxes/fees: $20

Grand total: $220

And because of WiFi we only used around 500MBs of data last month. With our current family plan, I'm wasting 1.8 gigs of data, and she's wasting 2.7 gigs.

With the new shared plan we could do,

1GB data plan: $40
2 smartphones: $90
Talk/text/tether: $0
taxes/fees: $20

Grand total: $150 (actually it would be slightly lower than $150 because of my government discount)

I know not everyone's WiFi situation is the same but it seems silly to not take advantage of my situation. I don't have to change my data usage and I'd save a little over 20 bucks a month. Not mind blowing savings but better than nothing.

 

[bigkevbosky]

Well right now my setup looks like this :

Family plan - 550 anytime minutes - never use them, have 3,000 + rollover minutes.

HER : iPhone 4S - 200mb, 1000 texts - total cost $75

ME : Lumia 900 - 3GB, 1000 texts - total cost $50

Total - $125 - after corporate 15% discount and taxes, bill comes to around $123 per month usually.

So if I understand correctly, and we switch to the 4GB shared plan, it would look like this :

4GB - $70
Her iPhone - $40
My Lumia 900 - $40

Total - $150 - after corporate 15% discount, we're probably around $145. So almost $20 more per month to gain, uh, I guess unlimited texts...and 800 mb of data.

I guess I just don't really understand. It would make sense if the $70 started you off with 1 smartphone, but it doesnt? I'm so confused.

 

[HeyCori]

I wish we could go without unlimited calling/text but I'm already well above 1000 texts and she would need, bare minimum, 900 minutes. Data is the only place we get to skimp. And if not for WiFi I'd be using 1.5-2 gigs of data a month.

Don't get me wrong, these plans are terrible. They don't favor data users at all, which is AT&T's plan, but call/text heavy people might be able to save a little bit of cash.

 

[Reflexx]

I was telling my wife two weeks ago that this was going to happen. Now I'm going to look like the super smart futurist to her!

But seriously, it's something that needed to happen. Just wish they'd work on the rates.

 

[Reflexx]

Also, many people will be better off not switching. I don't think it's designed to save average people with two devices money.

But I think this might be in anticipation of the W8 tablets coming out.

If you have 2 smartphones and 1 or 2 tablets, this will save you money.

I have 3 smartphones on my current plan. I also plan to get a Windows 8 tablet or two.

I do foresee a problem in the future when it comes to the different pricing for tablets and laptops. It will be hard to differentiate them soon.

 

[anon(5335877)]

The reason carriers are doing this is because data usage is going up, while phone calls and texting are going down. So they'll give you unlimited of something you'll use less of, and charge more for something you'll use more of.

Plus, in the future, everything will be data only. Voice and texts will go over the IP (internet protocol) based LTE network someday.

 

[geekmaster]

your trading off limited texting and talking for mandatory unlimited talk & text. Also your not buying separate data plans so they can hike up the data prices because you are sharing them. Cant wait till LTE comes to an mvno like straight talk.

 

[HeyCori]

So I signed up for the 1GB plan last month. Got my first bill for Aug. 23 - Sept. 19.

Went from $173 down to $137. Quite a difference. Plus I didn't have to change my usage at all. I also get a 15% discount which helps a bit. However, my old billing cycle restarted on Aug. 20 so there's 3 days of overlap. I'm not sure if I was prorated, undercharged, or if that will remain my standard billing cycle.