New AT&T Data Plan Saves $15 Monthly

AT&T made a couple big announcements today for smartphone users. Most significantly, the company has decided to offer separate pricing on data plans for users who bring their own smartphone, purchase one at full retail cost without a subsidy, or simply have an expired contract.

According to the carrier, the new data plans, which will be offered under the AT&T Next banner, will offer customers a $15 per month savings on Mobile Share Value Plans.

“With our new Mobile Share Value Plans, customers don’t have to compromise,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility in a press statement.  “Our new no contract option lets customers add a smartphone to the nation’s fastest and most reliable 4G LTE network at a lower monthly cost.  Customers want great value and a premium network - and now they can save more and get unlimited talk, text and data to share.”

The move by AT&T to offer contract-less services comes after T-Mobile’s UnCarrier initiative, announced earlier this year and offering a similar value proposition. While the new AT&T plans will save money for some customers, they likely won’t seem very attractive to users with grandfathered unlimited data plans at $40.

In addition to the new data plans, the company also announced an 18-month upgrade option that will become available to consumers, as well as “select small business customers” on December 8. The plan works by allowing subscribers to upgrade their device every year and a half, while spreading out their payments over 26 months. No upgrade or activation fee will be charged.   

According to Android Central, AT&T subscribers under expired contracts will automatically be migrated to “cheaper, off-contract pricing.” While this is great for most users, it’s decidedly terrible for anybody on the aforementioned unlimited data plan. While it’s more likely that Android Central overstated, it still wouldn’t hurt to check in with AT&T since it’s impossible to re-add unlimited data to a smartphone once it’s removed, even by accident.

Currently, AT&T offers unlimited data only for non-smartphone users.