AT&T says goodbye to unlimited data plans & hello to cheaper ones

The day has finally arrived for tiered data plans supplanting the all-you-can-eat nature of the unlimited plans we've been so accustomed to being offered for smartphones. Although there are probably a lot of customers who are breathing in a sigh of joy knowing that they'll be saving some money in the long run with their contract, others aren't too happy with the notion that they'll have to pay more money if they go over their allotted amount per month. Thankfully those who are currently on an unlimited data plan can choose to sit still with their offering, but going forward starting on June 7, customers will have an option of choosing two new data plans.

For those who rarely find themselves eating up any data per month can choose to go with the DataPlus plan which offers 200MB of data per month for $15. According to AT&T, they believe that 65 percent of their customers fit into this bill and could obviously benefit on the cheaper plan. However, they will be charged $15 more for an additional 200MB of data if they exceed the initial 200MB cap – so basically it seems like $30 for 400MB. On the other hand, heavy users will most likely side with the DataPro plan which tallies in at 2GB per month for $25. Out of all their customers, only 2 percent would probably exceed this amount as they say that 98 percent of their customers use less than 2GB per month on the average. If they exceed this quota, they will be issued an additional 1GB of data for $10. Seeing that tethering is surely going to be a prominent thing as we witness the next iPhone, smartphone customers who are on the DataPro plan can add this option for an additional $20 per month. Finally, Apple iPad owners will also be offered the same plans in place of the current unlimited one – $15 for 200MB or $25 for 2GB.

So if you're a heavy data user, you'd probably want to stick to that current unlimited data plan that you're on right now to save yourself some money. However, it's really difficult to say how these new plan offerings will affect both customers and AT&T in the long run. Ultimately this new move is pretty gutsy when you consider how entrenched customers are when it comes to the notion of unlimited data plans, but of course AT&T positions it as being “more affordable for more people to enjoy the benefits of the mobile Internet.” We'll see who is next to follow suit with a similar move of their own.

source: AT&T