AT&T is officially raising prices on (some) wireless plans (and more) starting June 1
UPDATE: Making matters even worse for some of its most devoted customers, AT&T is apparently also increasing prices on fixed broadband services in addition to wireless plans. As noticed by Fierce Telecom, this particular change was (discreetly) confirmed on May 2, adding a flat $3 a month to your AT&T Internet rate.
That's... not so bad, and it's also a much more frequent occurrence than a wireless price hike. Perhaps most importantly, the change doesn't affect those on AT&T Fiber plans promising download speeds of anywhere between 300Mbps or 5Gbps... or Fixed Wireless Internet customers in rural areas. According to the operator's official website, AT&T Internet plans start at $55 a month with a one-year commitment and top speeds ranging from 25 to 100Mbps, although that probably doesn't include this new bump. Our original story follows below.
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Between unveiling all-new and completely unorthodox plans, undercutting the competition... at a specific retailer and adding more and more unrivaled perks to the best unlimited options out there, the nation's third-largest mobile network operator almost assumed the "Un-carrier" role T-Mobile only appears to be retaining in name.
But many of the carrier's customers are likely to instantly forget about all the positive publicity AT&T (rightfully) earned in the last few months after hearing of "Ma Bell's" latest change. As first reported by Bloomberg earlier today (and officially hinted at a few weeks back), a price hike is right around the corner.
The good news is not all plans will become costlier... just yet. On the not so bright side of things, the price increases themselves are not exactly negligible, adding up to $6 to your monthly bill if you only have one service line and potentially amounting to as much as 12 bucks a month in the case of families.
What's also annoying (if not outright infuriating) is that AT&T has yet to make public any list of impacted plans, and based on official statements shared by the carrier with The Verge, no such list is coming anytime in the near future either.
That means the only way to know if you'll be affected by this controversial change is wait and see if you receive a "bill message and an email" from AT&T detailing the process. Of course, you should get said notice well in advance of June 1, when prices are actually set to increase, giving you plenty of a little time to decide whether you're okay with paying more for the same services or you'd be better off upgrading to an unlimited plan.
Unlimited plan prices, mind you, are not budging, starting at $65 a month for one line and a total of $140 for four lines of service, for instance. The Value Plus option is also worth considering if you're positive you need just the one unlimited 5G line, in which case you can pay as little as 50 bucks a month.
Blamed on inflation more than anything else, these kinds of price hikes with no apparent upside for many customers are incredibly rare occurrences in the US mobile network operator landscape, which is why it's definitely going to be interesting to see if Verizon and T-Mobile follow suit soon. Now that would make for an... uncomfortable "Un-carrier" event!
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