We’re in the midst of the biggest wireless game of chess that the industry has ever seen, and it can only be good for witless customers.
This time AT&T has made another move that will make customers on the countries “largest 4G LTE network” happy, especially those using bigger data plans.
The Associated Press reported on Saturday that AT&T has released new data plans covering their biggest data users. The plans go in effect today.
The savings start at $10 per phone per month. A family of four with 10gb of data per month will now pay $160 per month instead of the $200 per month that they were paying.
Under the new plans a family of four with will pay $170 per month for 4gb of data and $180 per month for 6gb of data. But, if that family just upgrades to the 10gb plan their rate drops to $160.
At first glance you may think AT&T has gone nuts but what they will really end up with is a bunch of families that won’t switch, hence paying more for less. They will also get a bunch of customers who move up in plan and add another data consuming device, thus going over their monthly allotment. Of course well disciplined families could end up saving a significant amount of money and get a decent amount of data.
Typically in a 4 unit family plan one or two of the devices use the bulk of the data.
AT&T will let existing subsidized customers take advantage of the new rates, but when they are eligible for an upgrade, they must pay full price for the phone — outright or in installments — to keep the lower rates. New customers won’t be eligible for subsidies to get these rates.
You can check out AT&Ts new plans here