There's no telling whether
Verizon's recent announcement had anything to do with it, but something lit a fire underneath AT&T today as they've announced an unlimited plan for the same $99 Verizon is charging (well, $99.99, if you want to get down to the nitty gritty). The plan will be available starting this Friday, February 22, and much like Verizon's setup, it only includes voice calling -- data and messaging will still require an additional package. The plan will be available to both existing and new customers, and anyone can get it month-to-month with no contract extension necessary. When you add in all-you-can-eat bytes and texts, you're looking at a total package that falls roughly in line with Verizon's so-called Premium Plan, so the industry appears to be settling on a fair asking price for this kind of deal. Whether consumers agree, well, that remains to be seen.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Alex Padilla @ Feb 19th 2008 1:31PM
AT&T is no longer as evil as I once thought them to be. But they're still money-grubbing whores.
Adam @ Feb 19th 2008 1:55PM
Dude...you totally doing the heat exposure wrong...you need to be under a lamp!
Alex Padilla @ Feb 19th 2008 2:26PM
But I only wanted it half-and-half...
Ellianth @ Feb 19th 2008 2:42PM
For what it's worth, I like your picture more Alex :).
Turtle @ Feb 19th 2008 2:58PM
No, they're still evil. I fired the "old" AT&T, the new one is even worse.
Alex Padilla @ Feb 19th 2008 5:35PM
No, I said "as evil." My Razr still drops calls (might be the phone), my bill is still higher than it should be, and their customer service still doesn't understand the "service" part of their name.
Eric M. @ Feb 19th 2008 1:33PM
I hope T-Mobile follows and includes 3G in the same announcement..lol. Like that will happen anytime soon..=(
brian @ Feb 19th 2008 1:38PM
woot 2 down 1 to go! ok fine sprint too, 1.5 to go
letstakeawalk @ Feb 19th 2008 2:06PM
Helio is also offering an unlimited all-in plan for $99, including unlimited 3g data. Now if only they would improve their phone offerings a little...
derX @ Feb 19th 2008 2:08PM
Yeah, I love how the companies try to keep up with each other only benefitting the consumers.
What's more, I hope Sprint makes its SERO plan public,i.e., available to anyone, causing the other carriers to do come up with competing plans.
SERO= Holy Grail of plans
StrangeBum @ Feb 19th 2008 2:27PM
@derX
Everytime one of these posts comes up, I think about my SERO plan and how much I love it. If Sprint were to go public with it though, maybe we could see AT&T follow suit and I can finally get an iPhone (highly doubtful they would extend the same service to it though) or just somebody else and then I will pick up one of the new Android phones coming out soon.
gibber9583 @ Feb 19th 2008 2:43PM
SERO is available for everyone:
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/680568/
john @ Feb 19th 2008 3:29PM
Brian: Sprint was first. They announced their unlimited first. So, 3 down (Sprint first, Verizon second, AT&T third), and 1 to go (T-mobile).
Derx: SERO sucks ass
Frankenstein Black @ Feb 19th 2008 1:39PM
ALL YOU CAN EAT!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu-s-SeigWs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fat_Boys
Feat: AT&T - as Buffy the Human Beat Box
Feat: Verizon - as Kool Rock-Ski
Feat: Sprint - as Prince Markie Dee
Ladies and Gents welcome to 2008 and the start of the all you can eat buffets, ENJOY!
Frankenstein Black @ Feb 19th 2008 1:50PM
Oh yea, and when T-Mobile comes around they can be the Biz (that’s Mr. Markie to the n00bs). Ok, on my feet and back to deciding which all I can eat treats I will use to speak and download beats...
Derry Quinn @ Feb 19th 2008 1:39PM
This all sounds REALLY expensive to me, is America expensive in the phone costs compared to europe does anyone know?
foner @ Feb 19th 2008 1:48PM
Derry - the U.S. has some major infrastructure differences from the EU. We, are very spread out and...uh huge! Not to mention our government and consumer interest groups haven't done a whole lot to advocate for the end user. Oh yeah: Americans also loathe taxes.. including any tax that might benefit them in any tangible way. Any questions about why prices are so high now?
Derry Quinn @ Feb 19th 2008 2:26PM
No, lol, thanks a lot...foner?
Scott @ Feb 19th 2008 2:30PM
While foner makes many good points, I think the main reason is we have something like 3 different wireless systems deployed nationwide, where the EU has ONE (that I know of anyway.
So we effectively are paying 3 times as much to achieve the same coverage, AND the US is large!
Derry Quinn @ Feb 19th 2008 5:27PM
well Europe has GSM 3G and HSDPA at least. And isn't Europe larger than the US :D
Interesting fact: ireland has more mobile phones per capita than any other country in the world.
Jack Storm @ Feb 20th 2008 2:31AM
Europe is NOT larger than the US.
http://goeurope.about.com/od/europeanmaps/l/bl-country-size-comparison-map.htm
Martin @ Feb 20th 2008 4:45AM
That map appears to be missing something, hmm... Russia I think it's called.
Jack Storm @ Feb 20th 2008 9:51PM
Umm everybody knows most of Russia is in Asia.
Carlesious Davis @ Feb 19th 2008 1:41PM
I think it's expensive too.
aaron @ Feb 19th 2008 1:46PM
For us business users, this is a great deal.
tcc3 @ Feb 19th 2008 1:48PM
Welcome to 1999. Suncom has this back in the day, except it was only $69.99. I believe free texting too. That was before the ATT wireless selloff crammed Suncom into a breadbasket and sent them straight to hell.
Paul @ Feb 19th 2008 1:59PM
Suncom was purchased by T-mobile (see http://www.t-mobile.com/company/PressReleases_Article.aspx?assetName=Prs_Prs_20071219&title=A%20letter%20from%20T-Mobile%20to%20SunCom%20customers)
So, yes, apparently T-mobile will be offering a similar plan, at least in the southeast. The plan is $59, I think, and $69 with (crappy) data. It doesn't include ANY roaming, though (10 cents/min). Back "in the day" (only 5 years ago) the plan was $49 and that included 100 minutes of roaming, but that was using AT&T's archaic TDMA network. Things have obviously changed.
I'd expect that T-mobile will follow suit soon and have a regional "unplan" that stays at the same rate, but they'll drastically reduce the nationwide plan from $149 to $99 to compete with AT&T/Verizon.
tcc3 @ Feb 19th 2008 2:49PM
Thats good to know. I might have been a T-mobile customer had it been available in the Carolinas back then.
They really bought the putrid husk of Suncom. The ATT wireless selloff reduced their "Powered by ATT network" from 13 States down to 2. Their GSM coverage was useless and their customer service was atrocious. It was sad how quickly a good comany went south.
Jason Golden @ Feb 19th 2008 1:50PM
You also might want to mention AT&T's unlimited plan does NOT cover iPhone plans. It's in the press release.
aznatama @ Feb 19th 2008 2:06PM
becasue iPhone plan is a data plan... and unlimited doesn't cover data...
+. @ Feb 19th 2008 2:03PM
yeah, *nothing* changes the cost of iPhone plans... i work for a company that gets employee discounts on AT&T, Verizon, etc., & those discounts apparently apply to everything BUT the iPhone. i assume that this is because of the Apple/AT&T contract, though i've never been given a real explanation.
FWIW, though? personally, i'm quite happy with my iPhone plan. more voice minutes per month than i'll ever ever ever use, 1500 text messages, and totally unlimited data. for about $20 less than this deal.
Ben @ Feb 19th 2008 2:19PM
No the plan will apply to iphone users as well (Well the iphone users that are on the non-standard iphone plans such as my self). The section you are referring to is a reference to data plans.
The way my iphone plan is set up I have "two" plans ... the voice part that was part of my older cingular/at&t and a iphone data add on that was added when I bought my iphone. I can change the voice part to this plan if I so choose and still keep my unlimited iphone data/200 text message part.
john @ Feb 19th 2008 1:55PM
Any bets on how long before T-mobile announces theirs?
And, I see a price war coming. I predict, as I've been saying all along, the end price will be close to half of these numbers (ie. unlmited voice+SMS+MMS+data+tethering for $75/mo, and going down to $50/mo as you remove features). I think that's the real fair market price.
tom @ Feb 19th 2008 2:14PM
That would be awesome.
I'd be ALL over that.
Guido @ Feb 19th 2008 1:58PM
It is unclear if this pricing applies to the iphone plan.
Guido @ Feb 19th 2008 1:58PM
Jason,
In the press release it does say, "unlimited U.S. calling on all devices with no domestic roaming or long distance charges", note "all devices". However, I agree it does contradict itself a bit when it says, "Standard wireless phones do not include smartphones or PDAs or the iPhone". Can anyone clarify this?
Turtle @ Feb 19th 2008 2:56PM
Sure, it means "anything we make money on."
Brian @ Feb 19th 2008 1:59PM
For business people who live on their cells, using it as their primary voice line, in place of a land line, $100/mo is a solid deal.
*I* wouldn't need it... I push about 600-800 minutes each month, but I know a few people that have been wanting to cut their landlines loose... and their ship has finally come in.
Nelson @ Feb 19th 2008 2:02PM
What the hell happened to competition? Verizon = $99, ATT = $99!? Freakin' price things LOWER than the competition. That's how you get customers (a la Circuit City 110% Price match).
Hopefully (maybe), T-Mobile or Alltel will get it right and price it at $70, or even $99 but include messaging.
Brad @ Feb 19th 2008 2:10PM
I wish they would allow you to add an additional line (a family plan) for a small fee. If this were the case it would be a really great deal and I as a customer would find value in it. However, as of right now I only use about 900 minutes between my fiance and I on our plan because most of our minutes are free anyways.
bagbklyn @ Feb 19th 2008 2:05PM
AT&T had this some years ago before cingular brought them. It wasn't a hit then, and I don't think these plans will be a hit now.
Paul @ Feb 19th 2008 2:09PM
Definitely aimed at business users and very "special" others (teenagers?). My wife and I ditched our land line and share 700 minutes with some breathing room (thanks to free m2m calling). I certainly can't see this applying to too many families/multi-phone accounts (other than corporate) regardless of their land-line status, but it does spell the end of the 2000+ minute individual plans entirely. Good riddance I suppose, though I've never experienced the need for such...
ajwalker @ Feb 19th 2008 5:01PM
Paul;
To run the risk of sounding completely clueless, how did you ditch your landline?
I've got and want to keep WiFi but in order to do that, my ISP says I need a landline, my satellite company says I need a land line, to switch to cable, they say I need a land line too. Are they all in cahoots with the local land line provider?
I wouldn't want to live without being connected at home through more than my phone, but I'd gladly ditch my landline that I never use and rings so infrequently (wrong numbers) that it startles me when it does.
I keep hearing about people ditching their land lines but I am perplexed as to how they are doing it.
Paul @ Feb 19th 2008 6:46PM
I had some trouble a few year back with getting power connected without a land line (ended up ordering the minimum phone plan briefly and then promptly canceled it), but didn't have any problem in my latest move. Satellite providers do require a land line since they need it to report on-demand usage (though I think you may now be able to opt for internet-based connectivity instead--somewhat moot though since internet connectivity usually requires either cable or phone). The cable company should certainly NOT require it (heck, most are encouraging you to dump it in favor of their VOIP-based alternatives).
Phone + DSL is a bit sticky. When AT&T bought Bell South, part of the agreement was that they would offer DSL without requiring a phone line. Prior to that, you had to have a primary phone line to get DSL. I'd imagine that carriers outside of the AT&T footprint might not have the same regulatory directive and thus might still require a "real" line to go along with the DSL line.
Anyway, it sounds like your sticking point is the Cable co., and that's a strange one. If you haven't tried recently, I'd call again and make sure that this is a "real" requirement. It really doesn't make sense that it would be, but I suppose each market is different...
yo @ Feb 19th 2008 2:11PM
available for iphone?
phanbouy @ Feb 19th 2008 2:15PM
read comments before posting?
Chris in CA @ Feb 19th 2008 2:21PM
Yeah, just ask for the special plan for iPhone, rate code iD10T
Adidas @ Feb 19th 2008 2:24PM
Sprint already had been doing this before these 2 and cheaper at that!
http://www.sprintunlimitedaccess.com/
Chex @ Feb 19th 2008 2:41PM
Adidas:
Yea, but Sprint is notorious for having terrible customer service. When I was a customer a few years ago, every time you would go into a Sprint store there were at least 3 customers so pissed off they were turning red.
Brian @ Feb 19th 2008 6:05PM
Their customer service, via phone, sucks, but the stores in my area are very friendly and knowledgable.
Sprint's selection of smart phones is great and their coverage is fantastic, in Kansas City.
Sprint and Verizon their towers, where they need to (or do they share them all, now?), so coverage isn't up for debate, but I get more for my money with Sprint.
CDMA data > GSM data --> So AT&T and T-Mobile (laugh) are out of the question.