ATT Caps New iPhone/iPad Data Plans, Announces Tethering
AT&T announced this week that a new data plan for iPhone owners, dubbed “DataPro,” will be offered starting June 7, providing 2GB of data for $25 per month. Tethering costs an additional $20 per month, and lets customers use their handset to share Internet connectivity with another device, such as a laptop. Tethering will be available this summer when iPhone OS 4 is released.
AT&T will also offer a less expensive data plan, called “DataPlus,” which offers 200MB for $15 per month. The carrier noted in its press release that 65 percent of its smartphone customers use less than 200MB per month, while 98 percent use less than 2GB per month.
Customers who near their cap for the month will be sent a text message notifying them when they reach a certain usage level. For customers who exceed the cap, an extra 1GB in the DataPro plan costs $10, and an extra 200MB in the DataPlus plan runs $15.
Current AT&T customers are not required to switch to the new plans and sacrifice their unlimited data, but can do so without a contract extension.
AT&T also announced that it would discontinue the existing $29.99-per-month unlimited 3G data plans for the iPad for new customers. It will be replaced by a no-contract plan that runs $25 a month for 2GB of data. Customers who have the existing unlimited plan are not required to change.
Plans for voice and texting through AT&T will remain unchanged after June 7.
“AT&T helps mobilize everything on the Internet — your favorite web sites, TV shows, music, games and social networks. Virtually everything previously done while sitting at a computer can now be done on the go,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “To give more people the opportunity to experience these benefits, we’re breaking free from the traditional ‘one-size-fits-all’ pricing model and making the mobile Internet more affordable to a greater number of people.”
[Via appleinsider.com]
June 2nd, 2010 at 1:38 pm
$20 in the US for tethering?! Yikes. When carriers in other countries have been offering it as part of a data plan. That makes me grumble even more about AT&T. We need good old American competition with more then one carrier here to drive prices down.
Anyone try to take there iPhone internationaly with AT&T? Way expensive, just ridiculas.
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Yeah glad I have my unlimited data and can use mywi all I want
. Feel sorry for new att customers.
June 2nd, 2010 at 9:27 pm
@SoSly Yeah same here. AT&T is really sticking it to new customers IMHO.