- AT&T tweaked its pricing, with cheaper entry and mid tiers and a pricier top plan
- The hotspot allocation for the highest end plan is up from 60GB to 100GB
- Bottom line: Lower prices target budget users while premium customers pay more
After rumors surfaced last week about new price plans at AT&T, it’s now official.
TL;DR: AT&T’s new pricing is more affordable for entry-level and medium plans, but more expensive for the premium top-tier plan that also gets “far more” hotspot data included, according to Wave7 Research.
AT&T continues to have three main plans, which are now called: AT&T Premium 2.0; AT&T Extra 2.0; and AT&T Value 2.0. They range from $90 for one line at the top end to $50 for one line at the low end, but as more lines are added, each line gets much cheaper.
For example, the AT&T Premium 2.0 pencils out to $55/line when activating four lines and the low-end AT&T Value 2.0 figures out to be $30 per line for four lines.
As for the change to hotspot data on higher-end plans, Wave7 speculated that may be facilitated by AT&T’s recent addition of more spectrum thanks to its deal with EchoStar. Hotspot data with the top plan went from 60GB to 100GB. On the medium plan, it went up from 30GB to 50GB, while there was a modest reduction at the low end.
AT&T plays affordability card
According to industry analyst Roger Entner, it makes sense to ask people with deep pockets to pay more for their wireless services rather than nickel and dime people who are living paycheck to paycheck. (Yeah, we sourced that nugget.)
Based on what Wave7 Research is reporting and what’s on Reddit, “AT&T has heard loud and clear that Americans have an affordability crisis, and it’s making some of their most popular plans more affordable for Americans and is providing a much better value,” Entner told Fierce.
At the same time, people who have money are being asked to pay more – but they’re also getting more value for their buck.
In other words, AT&T is balancing the call for more affordability with its responsibility to Wall Street. “On a net-net basis, this will probably bring in more revenue, something Wall Street should be very happy about,” Entner said.
According to Wave7, AT&T’s new plans appear to match Verizon on the high end, but T-Mobile’s highest-end plan is $10 more than both AT&T and Verizon. On the lowest end plan, AT&T provides a $15 discount over Verizon and $10 over T-Mobile.
But as always, it pays to read the fine print.
Broadly speaking, carrier pricing remains as confusing as ever, which is why anyone in the market for a new plan should check out Reddit forums like this to get the latest deep dive into pricing discounts and “gotchas.” (Just be sure to carry a long rope to climb out of the rabbit hole.)
The new price plans come two days after AT&T announced a new $250 billion commitment to accelerate fiber broadband, wireless and satellite deployments, coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the first telephone call.