AT&T is raising the price of its legacy unlimited data plan

Shawn Knight

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Staff member

AT&T has offered a number of incentives over the years in hopes of gently nudging customers away from their beloved unlimited data plans. With its latest move, however, the carrier is taking a completely different approach that’s sure to rub some the wrong way.

As of February 2016, customers that are grandfathered into unlimited data plans will see their rate plan increase from $30 per month to $35.

AT&T said the rate at which consumers and businesses are consuming mobile data has reached record levels and is expected to continue. We're told the small price increase will help the company provide the best service for all of its customers. AT&T added that the rate hike won’t affect data speeds as throttling will only kick in once a user exceeds 22GB of data in any given billing cycle.

In the event a customer wants to cancel their service with AT&T due to the $5 rate increase, the carrier will waive any early termination fee for lines impacted by the change. Do note that you’ll need to cancel within 60 days of the price increase appearing on your bill to have AT&T waive the ETF. Those making payments on a smartphone via AT&T Next will be required to pay the remaining balance before closing the account.

Additional revenue aside, the obvious goal here is to convey to customers that the unlimited data plan is no longer a solid value. Charging more for the plan is certainly one way to go about it.

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It's obvious AT&T wants this plan to die. And if a $5 increase is is all they are asking for now, why get upset over that. I mean shouldn't we expect this sort of thing from companies that are no longer competing?

Why would a company make it easier for someone to cancel their service, if they actually cared about loosing customers? That's the equivalent of pointing to the door and stating "if you are not happy, leave".

My complaint would be the lack of infrastructure gains, with everyone's payments. That would suggest a handshake between all the companies. Which is just as bad as a monopoly when there is no competition.
 
Wait... who has an ETF on a 5 year discontinued grandfathered unlimited plan?

If it's really been 5 years since they stopped offering the plan, then you make a GREAT point, lol.

Edit: According to an article I just looked up, AT&T did in fact stop offering unlimited data in June of 2010. So basically they're offering nothing.
 
Wait... who has an ETF on a 5 year discontinued grandfathered unlimited plan?

If it's really been 5 years since they stopped offering the plan, then you make a GREAT point, lol.

Edit: According to an article I just looked up, AT&T did in fact stop offering unlimited data in June of 2010. So basically they're offering nothing.

They may have gotten devices on lease or other programs while keeping their grandfathered unlimited plan. I remembered getting a new 2-year contract back in 2012 while keeping my grandfathered unlimited plan.
 
" AT&T added that the rate hike won’t affect data speeds as throttling will only kick in once a user exceeds 22GB of data in any given billing cycle."

An absolute lie, as proven by independent research as well as myself. They are throttling all unlimited plans at around 120KB/s, which is inadequate for all but the most basic Internet tasks. Forget streaming video - you'll be lucky if you can handle high-quality music. Updating or downloading large apps? Good luck with that. AT&T has been caught in lie after lie and this is just the latest one. If, as AT&T itself claims, only a handful of customers still have those unlimited plans then why is it an issue? Are we really supposed to believe that a tiny number of customers are using their phones as their primary Internet? This is nothing but an incredibly greedy company trying to drive away a small number of die-hards who might actually use more than a gig or so of data in a month. And as we all know, the amount of data consumed is irrelevant: the number of concurrent users and the speed of their connections are the only factors that matter when it comes to network congestion. Like all large ISPs, everything AT&T does has only one purpose: provide less service at a higher price while eliminating real competition by any means necessary.
 
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