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It’s no breaking news that AT&T is preparing to launch its shared data plans, a topic we have coincidentally been discussing today. We haven’t heard any other details since earlier this year, leaving Verizon as the pioneer of shared data plans. It seems Big Red might be very close to having some company in this club, though.
A Techno Buffalo fan has graced us with a screenshot of a text message displaying his data usage. Lo and behold, it included a new category displaying “Group Data.” Of course, the image displays zero MB used; these plans are not yet available to customers. This definitely means that something is in the works, though. AT&T shared data plans could be coming very soon.
It should be interesting to see how Ma Bell’s prices will match up against Verizon. We would not expect the deal of the year, though, as Verizon and AT&T prices tend to stay pretty “competitive” or similar. But who knows! AT&T might just throw us a curve ball.
Ew… icky. iPhone screen.
Now you sound like an iPhone user…
I read that with the voice of a little kid lol. it was funny.
Personally I hope they see all the flack Verizon got and do it better, forcing Verizon to rethink how much they want to charge or loose customers to ATT if they dont.
That would require them to do something innovative and actually competitive to try to gain customers from Verizon. That’s not going to happen.
Instead, AT&T will probably follow Verizon with maybe something slightly different, but not really enough to actually make a difference. Outside of the usual churn, the status quo will remain.
It’s probably going to take another player to offer something really disruptive to get AT&T and Verizon out of their complacent duopoly.
Don’t you know they are the same company, and they always do the mirror dance?
What I wanna see is all the ppl that complained about Verizon and said they were going to another carrier….
Many of us tried to tell em it was just a matter of time for other carriers to start doing the same thing.
The problem with Verizon is they require unlimited min and text, my family of 5 uses less than 300 min and only 3 phones have text using between 50 and 5 text a month. If I could keep my current plan and add a data pool for 3 of the phones I would have no problem paying the price they wan’t for the data. Right now it is cheaper to add 2 individual data plans, plus I can keep my unlimited data if I buy my phones at full price and still come out $60 cheaper every month. If At&t allows this we will probably switch when our contract is up.
I really hope they stay cheaper than Verizon. If not, I guess the big 2 are trying to force everyone to StraightTalk.
Does straight talk really offer unlimited data? Does it use 3G? And how is the coverage?
I’m actually asking for real, in case it sounds sarcastic.
They say they have unlimited but there’s a 2 to 5 gig soft cap where if u cross it you may get an abuse warning I’m on average in the 5 gig range with no issues. They use all of att and t mobiles towers so its the same coverage. I pay 45 dollars a month for unlimited everything on my gnexus and I have HSPA+ signal so I’m golden. I will never ever go back to a contract again
I may go that route when my contract is up.
So everyone knows I can second that straight talk works just as well as ATT. I swapped SIM cards with my friend for a trial run for a day and neither of us noticed a bit of difference in coverage where we went.
Also I have an email from straight talk customer service saying that straight talk uses all of the 4 major carriers’ towers.
I think the difference comes into play depending on whether you buy a straight talk phone that is CDMA or use a GSM phone. The only CDMA phones you can use (I believe) are the ones straight talk sells. The CDMA versions of the phones have a “c” at the end of a serial number used to identify them, the GSM versions have a “g” at the end.
Yeah I have two shared data lines with TMO, one still with a Sensation, mine with my galaxy nexus…soon as that contact is up, if things still look good with straight talk, then here we come.
Question tho, well straight talk have LTE coverage when TMO launches it?
I honestly don’t know. Would be cool if they did but i wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t.
I’m nervous about switching though, I have a true unlimited data plan with AT&T, but I get throttled after 3GB and I pay $62 per month and I can’t tether.
Do you get throttled? And what about tethering, can I tether if I want to?
I swear – if straight talk is what you say it is I’m going to go straight down to the AT&T store on Monday and tell them if they don’t lower my bill to $45 per month I’m going to switch to straight talk (which I should do anyways because the less money going to AT&T the better). Maybe I’ll buy a month’s service from straight talk and try it out.
I don’t think I’ve been throttled yet but I did get a warning email the first time I went over 5gb. Since I have an unlocked nexus I have stock tethering built in but due to that warning I got I basically never use it, not that I ever really have a need to, I have WiFi at my apartment now so that takes care of that. So to answer your question yes you can tether if its enabled on your phone but I would not advise it due to the large amount of data that it can run through.
They claim unlimited but they use att and tmobiles network so therefore have to play by their rules if they believe someone to be “abusing” the unlimited data plan they reserve the right to terminate service. I’ve had straight talk for 5 months now and I’ve only gotten one warning.
Straight talk uses sprints and t mobile networks on all there New phones. At&t and Verizon don’t offer phones through straight talk anymore.
This is untrue.
Straight talk sells at&t and T-mobile compatible sim cards if you have a GSM cell phone that has any of those carriers radio bands than you will have 3g and HSPA+4g reception with them. I’m not sure about the phones they offer i only know about the sim cards.
got to love it
And this is exactly why the ATT and TMo merger needed to be denied
That’s dumb. And I bet you were cheering for Verizon to acquire all those spectrum from cable companies.
T-Mo is a big fan of the deal, and the FCC seems to be cool with it as well.
LOL, Tmobile Tmobile Tmobile
its not even sending me my data update when I put in the code grr
Collusion between Verizon and At&t. Plain and simple.
AT&T still cheaper than VZW, plus, AT&T has unlimited mobile to mobile to any mobile in the USA, not as VZW. The unlimited talk and 3GB a month on AT&T it`s around $100 @ month, which VZW charging $30. over what AT&T charging. So they`re not competitive at all. AT&T price it`s close to Sprint even cheaper in a way, the different Sprint offer unlimited Data, beyond that both has the same price.
That won’t be the case if they go to a shared data plan; I have no doubt they’ll increase their prices.
They might, but I’m talking about now.
Actually…..straight apples to apples comparison for unlimited talk n text family plan…Verizon is about $15 cheaper now. And its stil cheaper with the new shared data plans.
Thats just for unlimited talk n text. I never checked for other plans.
Trust me…I checked after Verizon mentioned going to the new plans. I also have 3 lines. Maybe the more lines you add, Verizon gets more competitive…
I have to check it out, just to see. But I am paying for one line on AT&T just under $100.0 a month, with unlimited any mobile to any mobile talk and 3GB a month. VZW want $130.0 for the same service, but VZW unlimited just on their wireless network. But ma bye that change.
You realize that Verizon’s new Share Everything plans include unlimited minutes to everywhere in the US, right? Texts as well. That’s calls to or from mobiles, land lines, or people with cups and strings, all day long, seven days a week.
To get what you have now, you’d have to fork over $40 for your smartphone and $60 per month for 2GB shared data, or $70 for for 4GB. That means $100 for 1GB less data or $110 for 1GB more data than you have today. But the strength of Share Everything doesn’t manifest until you start getting multiple lines. Where it might cost you $200 to have two phones with the plan that you have today, with Share Everything, you’d pay $40+$40+$80 for 6GB data = $160.
Share Everything isn’t a good deal for single-line accounts. It’s an okay deal for those of use with many lines. I have five lines. For me, it’s more a matter of not having to worry about managing friends and family lists or going over in minutes, which can quickly become expensive. I still have to mind the data, but I’ve always had to watch that. I had a few lines with unlimited, but nobody was going over 2GB per month anyway, so I just got 10GB Shared for $100 and saved about $28 a month. I also have a much simpler plan now.
Will that’s okay, as long that’s what’s work for you. I am paying $110.0 + tx for two lines unlimited talk and 6GB shared a month. And I”ll stick with it for now. Last time I spoke the salesperson at VZW store, he said their unlimited just between VZW customers only.
I also checked this past Friday and Verizon lady was honest and my price going to to family shared over my current plan, $16.00 and change more per month than current plan and I would loose my unlimited data on my plan.
This is why I didn’t switch carriers. Without unlimited mobile calling to all carriers, I would have been toast (or would have paid $20 more to get more minutes).
And that doesn’t even count that the discount on AT&T covers more things than Verizon’s discount.
Same price as verizon but with rollover?
I blame VERIZON for making at&t doing this dumb crap
I guess Im nolonger holding out and Im getting a GSIII afterall.
Dun wanna lose my upgrade and unlimited plan incase they start forcing people onto shared data plans.
Probably sell it and get an Galaxy Nexus. Keep my plan and basically get a free phone.
I really hope AT&T did the same thing Verizon did and went out and asked the customer what they want in a share plan. Most want it straight up the ass!! Verizon delivered so hopefully AT&T won’t let us down.
dont blame verizon at&T GOT RID OF THERE UNLIMITED DATA FIRST……sorry for the caps wasnt paying attention