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AT&T lowering cost of unlimited voice and data for iPhone users

by Steven Sande Jan 17th 2010 at 3:30PM

The battle of snarkiness between AT&T and Verizon is resulting in benefits for subscribers.

Yesterday, AT&T announced a new unlimited voice and data plan for smartphone owners, including those who use the iPhone, that offers unlimited voice and data service for $99.99 per month. The change was the result of Verizon lowering the cost of its unlimited plans earlier in the day, and consumers are the beneficiaries of the battle of the cell phone titans.

Prior to the announcement, iPhone users paid $100 monthly for unlimited voice, then tacked on another $30 a month for unlimited data. Starting on Monday, January 18th, 2010, a combined unlimited voice and data plan is available for $99.99. That's a savings of $30 per month. For a Family Talk plan with two iPhones, the deal is even better -- $179.99 per month.

Unfortunately, AT&T still charges for text messaging separately, so if you want to add on an unlimited texting plan it'll be another $20 per month. Beginning on Monday, existing AT&T customers can change to the new plans without penalty or a contract extension by using the online account tools at www.att.com/wireless.

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The battle of snarkiness between AT&T and Verizon is resulting in benefits for subscribers. Yesterday, AT&T announced a new...
 

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Mike

This would have been good to cite in your story....
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=30401&mapcode=

January 17 2010 at 8:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Mike's comment
artifex

Mike:

Scroll up to the article and look at the bar under it. Click on the tiny "source" link.

Yeah, I know, they don't make it obvious.

January 18 2010 at 2:30 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
tdowling

What's strange is that the "source" link doesn't show up on the iPhone-formatted pages here.

January 18 2010 at 3:40 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
frank d

How about $99 unlimited everything ( including texting ) and lowering the prices for the rest of the customers with some tiered texting options?

January 17 2010 at 7:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
tys

Test

January 17 2010 at 6:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
tys

Does this mean a true unlimited data plan as opposed to the current "unlimited as long as you don't go over the limit" data plan?
If they'd include tethering, I'd go for it.
I agree texting should be included.
I've had situations where texting worked, but I had no edge or 3g for data.

January 17 2010 at 6:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
artifex

I think I was paying around $70-80 a month for AT&T unlimited 3G data and 20 messages a month. It just wasn't an iPhone. (Unlimited messages would have been more, but not $20 more I think)

January 17 2010 at 6:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jeff

Texting is complete crap. Pretty soon everyone will have a smart phone (and a forced data plan) so everyone will be able to abandon their texting plan. I already canceled them (incoming and outgoing). I have IM, email, etc on my phone that serve the same purpose (and are compatible with text messages), so why should I pay extra monthly fees for texting?

January 17 2010 at 6:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jwfnla

Why is it that EVERYTHING about AT&T pisses me off? Their brand is severely damaged, I think. The $86 dollars that I give them every month for my iPhone simply isn't worth it.

January 17 2010 at 4:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to jwfnla's comment
Steven

Hopefully you just put your money where your mouth is and canceled your AT&T service. Seems to be only logical if it's "not worth it". More bandwidth for the rest of us.

January 18 2010 at 1:40 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Connor

Wait, what?! What's all this about "WE MUST PUNISH THE DATA USERS AS OUR NETWORK CANNOT SUPPORT IT!" I would think this new price point would only lead to MORE customers (yay for AT&T) using MORE data, thereby "decimating" the network even more (boo for everyone). Something doesn't follow here, and I'm willing to bet AT&T is lying through their teeth about it.

January 17 2010 at 4:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Connor's comment
Steven

They aren't charging less for date, only voice.

January 18 2010 at 1:37 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Steven

data*

January 18 2010 at 1:38 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mike

So AT&T and Verizon compete and consumers win. Here, Rogers and Bell compete and consumers lose.

When Bell introduced their hybrid CDMA/GSM world phones some years ago, Rogers decided to block Bell customers with those phones on their network. In November, Bell upgraded their entire network to HSPA... and out of spite, decided to block Rogers customers from accessing it. So while Rogers blocking Bell wasn't that big of a deal, since there are extremely few areas with Rogers service but no Bell, Bell blocking Rogers is quite a huge deal, since Bell has a much greater rural coverage than Rogers. Case in point: 75% of the population of Newfoundland has only one option in Bell. So when I heard about Bell's new HSPA, I thought excellent! When I go visit my parents for Christmas, I'll have service... but no. I get nothing because Bell and Rogers are acting like petty, greedy children who refuse to share their toys. As soon as iPhone 4G comes out, I'm paying my cancellation fee and switching back to Telus (who, in addition to their own network, have contracts with both Bell and Rogers for customers to access their networks freely).

January 17 2010 at 4:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Mike's comment
Jon

Am I missing something here??

Bell and Telus launched a joint HSPA+ network, so whether you're with Bell or Telus, they both use the same network. As far as I know, outside of that there are is no network sharing/roaming going on in Canada except WIND is allowed to roam on Rogers' GSM network for the next 5 years. I don't think Telus has any kind of roaming agreements with Rogers.. Why would they, as they're competitors*

*Competing to see who can screw the Canadian population harder

January 18 2010 at 8:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mike

From what I've heard, Telus has had some sort of GSM network out west for some time, which Rogers had an agreement with them to use. I don't know if that's still in place, but either way, Telus hasn't tried to rape me. I was with them before I switched to Rogers, and they were quite good to me.

January 18 2010 at 9:35 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Heady

At the risk of sounding like a Sprint Fanboy, isn't this what Sprint already had? Unlimited Talk, Text, Data for $99?

January 17 2010 at 4:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Heady's comment
Tariq

Yup, Sprint and T-Mobile have had better unlimited plans for at least a year. But until a short time ago, they didn't have phones that anyone cared about. AT&T and Verizon can charge more for the plans and get away with it simply because of the better phones and better coverage/data speeds. Lucky for us, that's all changing now.

January 17 2010 at 4:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Heady

And now, they have a grand total of, what, the Pre, Pixi, and their two Android phones? If only they'd switch to a SIM card system, instead of the CDMA (?) shit they have at the moment. If they and Verizon were to go SIM, and the iPhone got unlocked in the US, life would be very good.

January 17 2010 at 4:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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