AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) is offering less expensive options in its Mobile Share shared data plans in an effort to boost adoption of the plans.
The carrier said that as of July 26 it will offer new and existing customers two new Mobile Share plan options, one with 300 MB of data and one with 2 GB of data, both with unlimited voice and texting. The 300 MB plan will cost $20 per month (plus additional costs per device, which includes $50 per smartphone) and the 2 GB plan will cost $50 per month (plus additional costs per device, which includes $45 per smartphone).
The 300 MB plan sits at the low end of the price spectrum for AT&T's shared plans, and the 2 GB plan fits between the previously offered 1 GB option ($40 per month plus per device costs) and the 4 GB plan ($70 per month plus per device costs). AT&T said that customers on the 300 MB plan can buy an additional 300 MB for $20 and customers on all other individual shared data plans can buy an additional 1 GB for $15.
AT&T's more granular options are designed to give customers more choices, and, the carrier hopes, drive more adoption of the plans. AT&T said that it had 3.3 million Mobile Share shared data accounts at the end of the first quarter, which the operator said covered about 10 million devices.
Rival Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) revealed last week that 36 percent of its postpaid subscriber base is now on its Share Everything shared data plans. Verizon's lower-end shared plans are slightly more expensive than AT&T's comparable offerings: Verizon's minimum shared data plan starts at 1 GB, for which it charges $50 per month, plus a per device cost, with smartphones at $40 per month (for a total that is $5 more expensive than the comparable AT&T offering). Verizon has a 2 GB plan for $60 per month with the $40 per month charge per smartphone ($10 more expensive than AT&T).
At the 4 GB/$70 per month level, the offerings from AT&T and Verizon even out. Both plans let individual customers add up to 10 devices to share data.
All four Tier 1 carriers offer some form of shared data plans for business customers, though Sprint (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) still offer unlimited smartphone data plans to consumers.
For more:
- see this release
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