With T-Mobile's aggressive pricing scheme proving to be beneficial for the Uncarrier, which has now overtaken Sprint as the third biggest carrier in the United States in terms of subscriber number, the country's two biggest wireless carriers are no longer resting on their laurels.
In the wake of Verizon's newly announced decision to finally scrap subsidized phones and two-year contracts, AT&T follows suit with a new set of Mobile Share Value plans that cuts down the price of most plans while offering more data for some.
In a blog post, AT&T announced the new plans as limited-time, promotional offers, which customers can sign up for starting Aug. 15. While not all customers, especially those on the lowest end of the pricing spectrum, will see huge improvements in their plans, customers with higher data requirements will certainly be pleased with the price cuts.
"There's never been a better time to be an AT&T customer," David Christopher, chief marketing officer at AT&T Mobility, says. "Tomorrow, we roll out new plans for everyone, including a plan that gives 50 percent more data than on our most popular plan. And we're not done yet."
Specifically, the old 10GB data plan, which was priced at $100, has been bumped up to 15GB, giving customers an extra 5GB more for the same price. Customers who sign up for the 20GB plan will also receive a $10 price cut from $150 to $140. Additionally, both plans have a reduced access charge of $15 per line, compared to the $25 per line access charge for lower data plans. AT&T also offers higher data plans, including 25GB, 30GB, 40GB and 50GB, as well as up to 200GB for enterprise clients.
To sweeten the deal even further, AT&T is throwing in unlimited calling and texting to anywhere in Mexico and Canada, a perk that has undoubtedly resulted from AT&T's acquisition of Mexican carriers Iusacell and Nextel Mexico.
On the lower end of the spectrum, customers will also receive a few small price cuts. AT&T has gotten rid of its $70 for 6GB data plan and has replaced it with a new $50 plan for 5GB. A new 2GB plan for $30 also takes the place of AT&T's previous 1GB plan for $25 and 3GB plan for $40. The 300MB data plan remains at $20.
Keep in mind that the prices indicated are not the full amount that customers will have to pay. The data plans work with AT&T Next device payment plans, which means, aside from the data and access fees, customers will also have to make the monthly payments for their devices for the next 12, 18 and 24 months.
As one can see, most of these changes are not exactly mind-bending, and some customers may complain about the fewer choices, but AT&T hopes the lower prices may attract more customers who might be thinking of switching over to T-Mobile or Sprint.
Photo: Mike Mozart | Flickr
