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AT&T adding an extra 2GB to phone tethering plans, launching Mobile Hotspot app February 13th
What, 2GB of monthly data isn't enough for your laptoppin' needs? Yeah, us either -- fortunately, AT&T's tweaking its phone tethering plan a bit with an extra 2GB that can be shared among all devices for a grand total of 4GB. As before, you'll need to start off with the $25 DataPro plan and tack on an extra $20 for tethering, bringing the total to $45 a month. In conjunction with the move, AT&T has announced that it'll begin rolling out a Mobile Hotspot app starting with the HTC Inspire 4G at its launch on February 13th, which means these guys are finally coming around and embracing the data revolution that's been taking hold the last year or two across the industry -- a trend that began with its first launch of a MiFi a few months back. Existing DataPro tethering customers will get the extra 2GB automatically added to their accounts, so there shouldn't be anything you need to do; obviously, we would've preferred something closer to unlimited, but something tells us that ship has sailed. Follow the break for the press release.
PSA: AT&T doesn't charge you for OTA firmware updates
In speaking with AT&T today about the Captivate's latest update, we learned something interesting that we thought we'd pass on: data isn't deducted from your bucket for over-the-air firmware updates. That's important since updates can climb into triple-digit megabytes -- and if you're on one of AT&T's newer DataPlus or DataPro plans, you really don't have any data to squander. Obviously, this isn't going to take away the sting of unlimited data's untimely demise -- but the next time you get a notification on your phone that some shiny, new system update is available, don't hesitate to kick it off (unless you're in some foreign country, we suppose, in which case you could very well be bankrupted).
AT&T makes sweeping changes to data plans, iPhone tethering coming at OS 4 launch
You might think that AT&T would hold off for a national HSPA+ deployment or a full-on LTE launch before tweaking its data pricing strategy, but not so much -- the carrier is coming out swinging today with some significant changes that should benefit the overwhelming majority of its smartphone users (and could stand to harm a select few). Let's break down the major points: DataPlus / DataPro The existing $30 fair-use "unlimited" smartphone data plan is being replaced by two new options: $15 per month for 200MB and $25 for 2GB (called "DataPlus" and "DataPro," respectively). Customers currently on the $30 plan are welcome to stay on it, but they can switch at any time without extending their contract. AT&T's new overage system is arguably the game changer: on the $15 plan, you'll pay $15 for each additional 200MB, but on the $25 plan, you'll pay $10 for each additional GB. It's simple and straightforward -- but most importantly, it won't bankrupt you if you go over by a gig or three in a month. This compares to $50 per gigabyte of overage on AT&T's 5GB DataConnect plan for laptops. The carrier's going to be very flexible about changing between the DataPlus and DataPro plans -- if you're on DataPlus, for example, and you discover that you're blowing past your allotment, you can choose either to start DataPro the following billing cycle, pro-rate it, or apply the higher plan retroactively to the beginning of your current billing cycle. That's pretty wild. Tethering Tethering will be offered as an add-on to the DataPro plan for an additional $20 per month, which means you'll pay a total of $45 a month for 2GB of data shared between your phone and your tethered devices. If you're light on the usage, it's a sweet deal -- but if you scale it up and you're using the data almost exclusively on your laptop, it compares unfavorably to the traditional DataConnect plan: $60 versus $75 for 5GB (and in the unlikely even you've got a webOS device on Verizon, it compares even less favorably). If you're striking a balance of data use between a smartphone and tethered gear, AT&T's new setup is still pretty solid considering that you would've been paying $60 for the USB stick plus $30 for smartphone data before. Yes, it's finally happening: AT&T's iPhones will get access to the tethering option, too. iPad iPad users are also affected by the change. The $30 iPad data plan -- lauded for being labeled by AT&T as truly unlimited -- goes away to be replaced by the same $25 / 2GB plan that smartphone users will see, though current subscribers to the $30 plan can continue unaffected. Everything launches on June 7, except for iPhone tethering -- it'll launch when OS 4 does. In the meantime, we're told users can sign up for the $30 plans both on their phones and iPads if they'd like to be grandfathered in. Follow the break for more details along with AT&T's full press release.
