AT&T today announced two new versions of its “Mobile Share” plans. The new offerings have low data caps and are among the least expensive of AT&T’s “Share” plans.
Starting this Friday, July 26, AT&T will offer Mobile Share plans with data caps of 300MB and 2GB. The 300MB offering (the lowest data cap offered by AT&T) will be priced at $20 per month plus $50 per smartphone added to the plan – a total of $70 per month to use it with one smartphone. The price of the 2GB option is $50 per month plus $45 per smartphone, falling between the carrier’s 1GB plan ($40 per month plus $45 for each smartphone) and 4GB plan ($70 per month plus $40 per smartphone). AT&T’s announcement stated that the new plans were added to fit with customers who may not need much data.
Though AT&T’s Mobile Share plans are designed to be used as a shared pool of data for multiple devices, the carrier does not offer an unlimited data option. Verizon also no longer offers unlimited data, though smaller carriers T-Mobile and Sprint do.
U.S. carriers, including AT&T, this month began announcing new pricing schemes that allow customers to upgrade their devices more often. “AT&T Next” and “Verizon Edge” allow customers to make payments on smartphones and tablets (rather than have them subsidized), then upgrade them when 50% of the device is paid off. T-Mobile’s “Jump!” service allows customers to upgrade their device twice every year.