AT&T Is Boosting Data Plans, Dropping Overage Fees (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: ATT Inc, the No. 2 U.S wireless provider, said on Wednesday that it would roll out a new data plan that does away with overage fees and reduces data speeds for wireless customers who surpass their data allowance. Beginning Sunday, customers can choose the new Mobile Share Advantage plan and pay for extra data, if needed, or work with slower data speeds instead of paying for overages, the company said in a statement. Its current plan includes a $5 data overage charge per 300 megabytes on its 300-megabyte plan and $15 per 1 gigabyte on other plans. ATT has also revised prices and data bucket sizes. For instance, its larger 25-gigabyte plan now costs $190 per month for four smartphone lines. It previously cost $235. All the new plans include an access charge of $10 to $40 per month for each device, ATT said. The new plans will continue to have features such as unlimited text and talk and rollover data. Plans above 10 gigabytes also include unlimited talk and text to Mexico and Canada and no roaming charges in Mexico. Last month, Verizon introduced a new "Safety Mode" for its data plans that similarly throttles customers who exceed their monthly allotment to avoid overages. While Verizon charges customers on lower tier plans for the feature, ATT notes that it does not apply any extra charges.

Comments

Europe does it better..

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not saying this in a "we're better than you" sort of way, but it really astounds me how the consumers get screwed over so much in the USA. Whether it's phone bills, health care insurance, cable companies or the dozen other topics. You lead the world in so many ways but seem to defend big business that rapes the general public in so many ways. Unfortunately with "lobbying" so inherent it may only get worse.

Re:Overages?

[dj245]

And here I am, having been an unlimited-everything T-Mobile customer for the better part of a decade...

Several of the MVNO's using AT&T's own network have offered "unlimited" (usually capped 4G + unlimited 3G) for several years. Their network could obviously support the traffic. The only reason AT&T didn't until now was because they could get away with it. I guess the competition finally forced their hand.

Re:Can we say... MODEM speed?

[npslider]

I should have said nearly modem like speed, yeah, my trusty U.S. Robotics 56K never got THAT fast. There were days I sure wish somehow it would.

My first upgrade to the world of DSL was 320K and that did feel like ridiculous speed. Now my cable company offers 1 gig plans... that's just ludicrous speed!

Re:really a price increase

[ScooterComputer]

Same here. The 128Kbps MAX is a joke unworthy of a $5 a month "penalty". I especially like how AT&T tries to wrap the same $5 fee as Verizon's "Safety Mode" as "We're not doing what Verizon is doing. We don't charge you!" Uh huh. And both of them sitting on this 128kbps thing like a badge of honor. 128Kbps is all but unusable. I'd like to see Randall Stephenson do a John Legere and live for a week on 128Kbps data. If he can do it for a day, I'll get off my high horse. (He wouldn't be able to, so, no worries there.) At least Verizon says 128Kbps is what you should expect; AT&T pulls a mealy-mouthed "128Kbps max". Like... what? 2Kbps? 1Kbps? How 'bout we drop into the "human readable bitstream" speeds... Are those possible, acceptable speeds, AT&T? Jerks. 2 steps forward, 3 steps back. Always with these guys.