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AT&T to offer new mobile data plans on January 22nd

by on19 January 2012

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300MB for $20, 3GB for $30, 5GB for $50

Beginning Sunday, January 22, 2012, corporate broadband giant AT&T will start offering new mobile data plans with higher monthly bandwidth allotments to all of its bandwidth-deprived smartphone subscribers.

In an effort to readjust its lenience on monthly data caps, the company will now offer a 300MB plan for $20, a 3GB plan for $30 and a 5GB plan for $50. Current AT&T subscribers with existing data plans need not worry, however. If you're paying for 200MB for $15, 2GB for $25, or 4GB with tethering for $45, or are fortunate enough to still have a grandfathered Unlimited Data Plan for $30, you will be able to keep your existing data plans, according to the AT&T Press Release.

Based on some undercover inspecting done by our friends at TechCrunch, it appears that AT&T is charging more per-month with these adjusted data plans, yet charging less per-gigabyte. It all depends on perspective, and of course, whether or not you are an existing subscriber with an existing data plan.

AT&T's Former (Current) Data Plans:

  • $15 for 200MB ($0.075 per megabyte)
  • $25 for 2GB ($0.012 per megabyte)
  • $45 for 4GB with Tethering ($0.010 per megabyte)
  • AT&T's New Data Plans (Effective January 22, 2012):

  • $20 for 300MB ($0.06 per megabyte)
  • $30 for 3GB ($0.0099 per megabyte, or slightly less than a penny)
  • $50 for 5GB with Tethering ($0.0097 per megabyte)

    Source: TechCrunch 


    The updated pricing reflects many similarities in Verizon's current data pricing structure, however the two higher-rate plans (3GB and 5GB) have an advantage over Verizon's current pricing by adding an extra gigabyte of data allowance.

    To help customers determine which data plan best matches their needs, AT&T has helpful tools at www.att.com/dataplans – including a data calculator where customers can estimate usage for their typical data activity. Once smartphone and tablet customers are on a plan, AT&T keeps them informed of their usage levels by sending usage alerts as they consume data within their plan.


    Nevertheless, it is important for us to say that we have noticed AT&T is very abusive to its customers when they approach or exceed their data limits. We at Fudzilla have used the AT&T Unlimited iPhone Data Plan ($30/month) since July 2008, with an average monthly consumption of between 4GB and 8GB, and experienced zero problems with disruption of service up until November 2011. For some reason, after reaching the 2GB milestone on an Unlimited Data Plan, AT&T now begins severely throttling 3G data speeds to atrociously slow levels of throughput. Ultimately, we hope this will change in the future with the advent of AT&T's 4G LTE network, but we will stress that it is important for Unlimited Data Plan subscribers to remain cautious of their throughput speeds once they reach the 2GB milestone.
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    Last modified on 19 January 2012
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