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Roger Cheng/CNET
AT&T is getting in on the data bonanza too.
The Dallas telecommunications company said on Saturday that it would double the amount of data on its shared data plans starting at the 15-gigabyte tier. The promotion, available to both new and existing customers, begins on Sunday and ends October 31.
The offer is just the latest promotion from a wireless carrier looking to both defend its base of customers and attract new ones from rivals. It comes at a time when No. 4 player T-Mobile leads the competition on subscriber growth and Sprint, the No. 3 carrier by subscriber, has shown new signs of life with a new CEO and several new programs of its own. Even top player Verizon Wireless has gotten into the mix by offering a temporary boost in data.
The difference with AT&T’s plan is that the doubled data doesn’t go away after a specific period of time. Customers who sign up will keep that their extra data for as long as they remain on that particular plan.
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This comes after Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T’s mobility and enterprise business, slammed so-called where the promotions expire, leaving customers with a lesser plan.
“Those exploding offers — customers hate those offers,” de la Vega said earlier this month at an investor conference. “Unless they change their mind, we won’t offer those kinds of promotions.”
The plans range between 15GB and 50GB, which means the new range is 30GB to 100GB.
Under AT&T’s mobile share plan, customers pay a base price for the voice, text messages and data — $130 for the cheapest tier and $365 for the most expensive one — and then pay an additional access charge for each smartphone on the plan.
If a customer signs up for a monthly installment plan, called AT&T Next, or brings their own device, the charge is $15 a line. But if they sign up for a contract, the charge is $40 a month. Under AT&T Next, a family of four would have to pay a total of $190 a month for the lowest tier plan, while the price for four with two-year contracts would cost $290 a month. The contract price is higher because the carriers subsidize the smartphone cost, allow customers to pay $200 for what should be a $650 device.
By doubling the data at the 15GB tier and above, AT&T is hoping to drive customers toward the pricier plans. That boosts revenue without affecting its profitability. Unchanged is AT&T’s four-person, 10GB plan for $160 a month (that price assumes you’ve joined AT&T Next, brought your own device, or paid full price for the phone).
AT&T isn’t the only one offering more data. T-Mobile’s promotional four-person, 10GB plan for $100 grants an extra 1.5GB of data per line, which expires at the beginning of 2016. Verizon Wireless is also offering 1GB of extra data to customers that sign up for its shared data plan, but it goes away after two years. Sprint’s recent overhaul of its family plan adds much more data, with its own $160 plan providing 20GB of data.
Updated at 1:32 pm PT: To clarify AT&T’s pricing options.
Corrected on Sept. 29 at 7:46 am PT: To clarify that T-Mobile’s promotional data expires at the beginning of 2016, not 2015.
