AT&T has announced a new data tier for its Mobile Share Value Plan, following last week's announcement by Verizon that it was cutting down most of its More Everything plans by $10 and adding new tiers between its 10GB and 20GB plans.
The new data tier, which will be available for a limited time period beginning Sunday, Feb. 15, will include unlimited calls, SMS and 7GB of shareable data. It will also be covered by AT&T's new rollover data program, which automatically rolls over unused data for the month to be used for the following month. It is only $5 more expensive than the next plan below it, which offers 6GB of shareable data for $70.
Just how much one can do with 7GB of data, AT&T says, is equivalent to streaming 60 hours of music and 12 hours of video, surfing the web for 110 hours, posting 500 photos on social media, downloading 50 apps, and processing 5,000 emails.
To be clear, the $75 plan only covers the data charges. AT&T does not include yet other fees it charges its customers. For those who want to sign up for a two-year contract, they will have to pay an extra $40 per line for the subsidized phones. For three lines, that will rack up a total of $195 for the entire package, compared to the $190 for the 6GB plan.
However, customers who want to sign up for AT&T's Next promo or bring their own devices into the network can cut down the access fee to $15, putting the price down at a much lower $120. The Next promo allows customers to pay for a smartphone in monthly installments with no down payment and have the option to upgrade to a new handset after 12 months or continue paying for the handset until payment is full.
Of course, customers will also have to factor in the monthly cost of the device, which ranges from $15 to $30, depending on which smartphone models they choose. For those who want to get the latest handsets, the total cost of the plan could go as much as $210 for three lines, including the 7GB shareable data, access fee on the Next promo, and the monthly payments for the three devices.
By comparison, getting the 6GB plan on the Next promo will cost $25 for the access fee on each plan, so that is a total of $235 for the entire plan, including the monthly installment payments to be made for the three devices.
There will also be the cost of paying for new smartphones for customers who decide to purchase them for the full price, which run anywhere between $1,000 and $2,000, depending on which models they want to buy.
