AT&T adds 30GB, 40GB and 50GB shared data tiers starting at $300

Matthew DeCarlo

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AT&T has expanded its shared data services to include several new packages that are better suited for data-chugging businesses and consumers. When the company first introduced its group data plans last summer, it offered bandwidth in blocks ranging from 1GB to 20GB for $40 to $200 a month -- figures that still appear to be accurate. Today's update raises the bar to as high as 50GB of data per month.

The new plans include one at 30GB for $300, a second at 40GB for $400 and the 50GB option for $500. Along with having more data per account, it can be split between more devices. The 20GB tier is capped at 10 web-connected gadgets while the higher capacity plans stretch that to 15, 20 and 25 devices -- at least if you're a business, anyway. The press release says consumers are still limited to 10 devices.

Data overages are billed at $15/gigabyte, adding a new phone to the account costs $30 a month, laptops and the like cost $20, while tablets and gaming devices run $10 -- the same rates you'll find on the 10GB to 20GB options. These tiers obviously still include unlimited talk and text, but on March 22 AT&T will start providing data-only plans ranging from 4GB ($30) to 50GB ($335) for tablets, laptops and so on.

Companies who need data sharing for more than 25 devices can go through the new "Business Pooled Nation for Data Plans." This lets you add basic phones for $20 a month with 300MB of usage, while coverage for smartphones, tablets and laptops includes a 2GB bucket for $45, 5GB for $50 and 10GB for $80. You'll likely want to read the fine print as there are more restrictions than the plans above.

In semi-related news, AT&T has halved the price of HTC's Windows Phone 8X. The handset maker's WP8 flagship is now available for $49 (8GB) and $99 (16GB) on contract as well as $399 and $449 off contract. Key specs include a 4.3-inch 720p display, a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8960, 1GB of RAM, an 8MP camera in back and 2.1MP up front, 4G and NFC support, as well as up to 11.3 hours of talk time.

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Who remembers the word unlimited? This is ridiculous.

If they made it unlimited they'd have to charge everyone a higher price. I use less than 1GB a month, why would I want to pay more for unlimited when I could pay less for a 2GB plan?

If 30GB is $300 and 40GB is $400 and 50GB is $500, what do you think unlimited would cost?
 
Who remembers the word unlimited? This is ridiculous.

If they made it unlimited they'd have to charge everyone a higher price. I use less than 1GB a month, why would I want to pay more for unlimited when I could pay less for a 2GB plan?

If 30GB is $300 and 40GB is $400 and 50GB is $500, what do you think unlimited would cost?

T-Mobile uses the same towers att does and they offer unlimited data. Your argument is invalid. Only reason att and Verizon get away with this crap is that they have all the flagship phones. If smaller carriers want to remain competitive they have to offer something they don't. Seeing as how they don't have many good phones....
 
Who remembers the word unlimited? This is ridiculous.

If they made it unlimited they'd have to charge everyone a higher price. I use less than 1GB a month, why would I want to pay more for unlimited when I could pay less for a 2GB plan?

If 30GB is $300 and 40GB is $400 and 50GB is $500, what do you think unlimited would cost?

T-Mobile uses the same towers att does and they offer unlimited data. Your argument is invalid. Only reason att and Verizon get away with this crap is that they have all the flagship phones. If smaller carriers want to remain competitive they have to offer something they don't. Seeing as how they don't have many good phones....

I have to point out that T-Mo can only do low-end 3G on AT&T's network, but your post is essentially 100% correct..and unlimited 3G is more than enough for most people. Oh, and don't forget Sprint - I think they still have unlimited data as well. But here's another question: are those pooled data plans still subject to throttling? Its a pretty safe bet that they are. So not only is AT&T charging you a huge monthly fee for shared data, AND a monthly fee for every device you have attached thats nearly as much as a typical data plan all by itself, but in all likelihood you'll still get your speed reduced the moment that you go over the limit for your device. Or maybe throttling kicks in if ANY device goes over the limit, since its shared. Bottom line? This a whole new level of rip-off from a company that's turned it into a art form. Anyone who defends it is either an industry plant or too stupid to be commenting on the subject.
 
These days, I'm over the whole tiered data plans. But what I can't possibly fathom is 20-30 dollars per device per month just for the gift of access to the data you already bought... which expires monthly. I'll just keep my straight talk for now.
 
They can do anything they want and we still pay for data. I personally had liked the pre-paid way but T-Mobile 4G was awful and my caller ID always shown a different name. They had promised to fix this but never did or couldn't in the long run. I was only paying: $45 a month plus tax $47 they then gave me back $5 dollar credit good until 5 years.

I had unlimited calls, text, data, web access. Also had tethering for free and use WiFi though for making calls over their network. When I had drop the service back in November 2012. T-Mobile contacted me to come back and they would make the monthly only $25 a month and still get back $5 bucks. But they couldn't fix the Caller ID.

I would call someone on a land-line and it would come up say Betty Sue for example. T-Mobile Care Service higher tier told me we'll change your number. So they did that in less than 15 minutes. This time the Caller ID read a guy name: Peter Joe. Again they won't fix this issue. So now on the girl friend plan real service contract with Verizon. The cost is overboard, can't do what I could do with T-Mobile Pre-Paid or as the put it No-Contract Service. Should really call it No Support Service too.

Well Verizon Caller ID shows Wireless Caller so that works, 4G is called 4G LTE that only works if the cell phone towers have been upgrade from 3G. If not then the 4G LTE won't work. To me it's a iffy service. Billing is bad if your late you get hit with extra fee. Late with T-Mobile they turn you off. Send you text messages until you pay your bill. They all want to you to lock your checking account into them so they can take out your funds to pay their bill.

My data plan was 2GB but it's now 1GB that's the lowest I can go. If I go over that 1GB it cost me $15 bucks. To play the extra for 2GB won't work since I don't use this phone that much.

I had tracfone since the late 80s to 2011. They really mess-up my phone number to transfer the same number to a better phone. I had to go through a nightmare with sim cards and no one there could solve the issue. Until one day they told me it was too late to fix the account. On well so T-Mobile No Contract was started.

Frankly I don't care for Verizon just way to expensive and I really don't use the cell phone 100%. I had to drop my land-line through Cable Company which was charging over blow pricing per year just to use digital phone service with internet and cable bundle.

Someone needs to fix these pricing and nobody does. So the prices for all these services just goes up and up and up and up...
 
@tipster, right on. I like T-Mobile but their 3G service is just not that great in my area. AT&T's LTE is much better but is more expensive over all.$15/Gb is just too expensive. Overall, the mobile data plan prices have not improved much in the last four-five years. For now, we can b--ch all we want, at the end, we still have to suck it up and pay up.
 
T-Mobile uses the same towers att does and they offer unlimited data. Your argument is invalid. Only reason att and Verizon get away with this crap is that they have all the flagship phones. If smaller carriers want to remain competitive they have to offer something they don't. Seeing as how they don't have many good phones....

My argument is invalid because you thought of an exception?

Here's another exception, Sprint (which I have) has unlimited data. So does Time Warner, my cable ISP. But Sprint's network is so slow it's like anyone could abuse it anyway, and time warner caps the speed depending on how much you pay for every month.

Look at the history of carriers... they all used to offer unlimited, but after too many people got smartphones in crowded cities, the networks couldn't keep up. The carriers couldn't afford to just keep putting up more towers. During this time carriers merged, Nextel merged with Sprint and Cingular merged with AT&T because they were going under.

They don't 'get away with it' because they have flagship phones, they've finally figured out the balance where they can provide the most people decent service. If there was such a thing as unlimited 4G, we could just make our phones hotspots and dump our cable ISP at home, then Netflix etc could all be over the air. Do you think the cell carriers could possibly handle that kind of traffic?

Bottom line? This a whole new level of rip-off from a company that's turned it into a art form. Anyone who defends it is either an industry plant or too stupid to be commenting on the subject.

You confuse explaining with defending. If the explanation isn't what you want to hear, then you assume the person is disagreeing with you. Unless you're sitting in on board room meetings over at Verizon, you're speculating as much as the rest of us.

Yes Sprint offers unlimited data, and they lose a few billion dollars every year. Call me too stupid to comment all you want, but unlimited data has historically, and continues to be a losing business plan.
 
My argument is invalid because you thought of an exception?

I proved that their infrastructure can support unlimited data, that's why its invalid. And they can keep just throwing up towers, keep in mind this is one of the most profitable industries in the world. They make boat loads of money off of us and they're going to tell is it's too expensive to do that? Just like Comcast and Verizon say we don't need gigbit internet? Are you really going to defend their wallets at the expense of progress? Tmobile seems to make a profit as well as att. Don't know what's going on with sprint
 
I proved that their infrastructure can support unlimited data, that's why its invalid. And they can keep just throwing up towers, keep in mind this is one of the most profitable industries in the world. They make boat loads of money off of us and they're going to tell is it's too expensive to do that? Just like Comcast and Verizon say we don't need gigbit internet? Are you really going to defend their wallets at the expense of progress? Tmobile seems to make a profit as well as att. Don't know what's going on with sprint

I'd like to see that list of most profitable industries in the world. :)

Unfortunately for all of us, these companies are in business to make money. I don't think Tmobile makes money, their owner, Deutsche Telekom, just sold off a lot of T-mobile to MetroPCS. I doubt they would have done this if T-Mobile had been making good money.

The carriers who are making money are the ones with the limited data plans. You can believe they're doing this to screw us over if you like, but a business that doesn't make money won't be a business very long. If Sprint doesn't figure something out, we'll be throwing them on the heap with Circuit City. Remember how great it was at Circuit City... they had that rule that you could always take anything back, no matter what. No questions asked, they'll take it back. They sure did love their customers... they didn't do so well by their employees though.
 
I'd like to see that list of most profitable industries in the world. :)

Unfortunately for all of us, these companies are in business to make money. I don't think Tmobile makes money, their owner, Deutsche Telekom, just sold off a lot of T-mobile to MetroPCS. I doubt they would have done this if T-Mobile had been making good money.

The carriers who are making money are the ones with the limited data plans. You can believe they're doing this to screw us over if you like, but a business that doesn't make money won't be a business very long. If Sprint doesn't figure something out, we'll be throwing them on the heap with Circuit City. Remember how great it was at Circuit City... they had that rule that you could always take anything back, no matter what. No questions asked, they'll take it back. They sure did love their customers... they didn't do so well by their employees though.


we have moved from the age of the customer is always right to the stock holder is always right. It makes me rage when profit gets in the way of progress. Once we have the technology it only gets cheaper. The problem here is that they don't want to take the next step. Its easier to limit data than to upgrade their network.
 
yRaz
First let me give you a tidbit of knowledge. the cellphone companies do not own the towers. Out here on the west coast 98% of the cellphone towers are owned by a company called American Towers. If a tower has to go up, its American Tower that has to build and maintain the tower. When a tower is needed, its the company that will own the tower that has to go through all the red tape accosiated with its construction. Zoning permits, Land purchases, Air rights. So the carriers themselves can not just plop a tower down anywhere anytime they want. ATT and Verizon both went to capped data for two very important reasons. 1: Superusers are super abusers. Give someone unlimited anything and they will abuse it. 2: each of these carriers have to purchase the spectrum in which they will be broadcasting. As such they can charge whatever they like for the use of that spectrum. As the average user uses less then 5GB on their moble device, it was cheaper for these companies to go with a capped plan for their own customers. They can buy chunks of the spectrum and know exactlt how much their customer base is using each month. Unlimited would mean a purchase on the backend.
 
we have moved from the age of the customer is always right to the stock holder is always right. It makes me rage when profit gets in the way of progress. Once we have the technology it only gets cheaper. The problem here is that they don't want to take the next step. Its easier to limit data than to upgrade their network.

We are also in the age where many people expect to get what they want, when they want it, and lots of it. I think the keyword in your comment there is 'rage'. I'm trying to explain something using logic, history, and math and you're disagreeing based on your feelings. No one can tell you your feelings are wrong, so all that's really left is to say 'suck it up, deal with it, life isn't fair.' At least you're free to sign up with T-Mobile or Sprint. :)
 
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