Over the last month, Verizon Wireless had ended up increasing the prices of their legacy unlimited data plans for customers from $20 to $40, doubling the amount of money it costs each month on top of the fees for minutes and text. As of today it seems AT&T subscribers are due for a price increase on older unlimited plans as well, although the step up on monthly pricing isn’t quite as high as it is with Verizon. Having said that, AT&T’s legacy plans for unlimited data also currently cost $30, (whereas Verizon’s were $10 less) but will soon end up at $35 a month on top of normal monthly bill costs for rate plans.
According to the details, the prices will stay at the current cost of $30 a month for the older unlimited data until February of next year, so there is still a couple of bills for customers on these plans where they will pay the lower price. Once February hits though, customers will need to be aware that they will be paying five bucks more for the same plan. Whether or not this prompts AT&T to make any more changes going forward is unclear, but this change, no matter how small, will potentially cause some customers to rethink the plan they’re on.
AT&T’s price increase is not so much an oddity since both Verizon and T-Mobile have already introduced similar pricing tweaks, and considering the amount of the increase compared to their competitors, subscribers shouldn’t be too displeased with the change. It should go without saying though that not everyone’s ending bill costs will be the same as $35 is merely the cost for the data package alone, and each subscriber will still have to factor the extra $5 into the rest of their phone bill charges. Aside from the increase in data, AT&T has made some other changes to their plans recently as well, introducing Advanced Messaging services as well as video calling for specific devices, and free roaming for subscribers while traveling in Mexico so long as they’re on one of the current shared value plans that AT&T offers. While AT&T has reportedly stated the price increase will come in February, they haven’t yet mentioned a specific date.