New in OS X: Get MacRumors Push Notifications on your Mac

Resubscribe Now Close

AT&T Again Raising Price of Grandfathered Unlimited Data Plans

Tuesday January 10, 2017 12:05 pm PST by Juli Clover
AT&TStarting in March of 2017, AT&T will raise the prices of its grandfathered unlimited data plans by $5, according to information obtained by DSLReports. The price hike is AT&T's second price increase in the last 12 months and will raise prices from $35 to $40.

DSLReports forum users began receiving notifications about the $5 price increase in early January, and the site was able to confirm AT&T's plans. AT&T's statement on the new pricing is below:
Our Mobile Share Advantage plans and our AT&T Unlimited Plan provide several benefits that our legacy unlimited plan doesn't. If you have a legacy unlimited data plan, you can keep it; however, beginning in March 2017, it will increase by $5 per month.
AT&T no longer offers standalone unlimited data plans to customers, but a small number of people continue to hold onto unlimited data plans that were purchased before AT&T discontinued them in 2010. Those plans allow customers to use an unlimited amount of data, but throttling does occur with excessive data usage.

AT&T previously raised prices for its unlimited data customers in February of 2016, increasing data plan costs from $30 to $35. AT&T's data plan costs are charged in addition to voice and text plan costs for unlimited customers, putting the minimum price on an unlimited data plan with text and voice (not unlimited) in the neighborhood of $90.

Over the course of the last several years, AT&T has used price hikes, data caps, and throttling to attempt to get its grandfathered unlimited customers to switch to new plans. In 2014, the FTC launched a federal court complaint against AT&T for its throttling practices, which led AT&T to scale them back.

At the beginning of 2016, AT&T reintroduced $100 unlimited data plans but limited them to AT&T users who subscribe to an AT&T DirecTV or AT&T U-Verse plan.

Tag: AT&T
[ 277 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Avatar
Number 41
19 months ago
I expect everything AT&T does to be the absolute worst -- yet, somehow, they still manage to exceed my expectations.
Rating: 45 Votes
Avatar
cariacou
19 months ago
I switched to T-Mobile a couple years ago. Couldn't be happier.
They have similar unlimited plans, and none are anywhere close to $90/user.
I think it's about $140/4 users?

Oh, and did I mention they've never raised my plan's cost? Actually they've "lowered" it several times (added very useful benefits for free, like free international texting/free international data and a lot more).

Disclaimer: I don't work for T-mo, don't own any shares. Just enjoy how they have been treating me.
Rating: 36 Votes
Avatar
freediverx
19 months ago
This will not persuade me to switch to one of their newer, ******** plans. It will merely lead me to switch to T-Mobile.
Rating: 33 Votes
Avatar
goobot
19 months ago

Incoming **** storm of people complaining about the price increase. Like, I get it. I absolutely do. But how is this a surprise? Apple raises the price of their Plus iPhone $29, and no one blinks an eye.

But these telecom companies raise the price on your plan, and this one they haven't offered for almost 7 years and you're surprised? I'm not defending what they're doing, and I know this is going to trigger a lot of people, but getting worked up over a trivial amount of money just isn't worth it. Especially when you knew it was coming.

And if you want to flame me, keep it civil please. There's worse things in the world than getting worked up over $5.

$5 dollars monthly isn't the same as 5$
Rating: 19 Votes
Avatar
Deep Dish
19 months ago
Why does anybody still use AT&T? I switched to Cricket a couple years ago, I'm still on the AT&T network, and I pay $30/month for unlimited everything. Yeah, my friends make fun of me for using Cricket, but I haven't noticed any difference in quality of service despite paying less than half of what I used to.
Rating: 17 Votes
Avatar
ILuvEggplant
19 months ago
ever notice how the at&t logo looks like the death star?
Rating: 14 Votes
Avatar
Statusnone88
19 months ago
Incoming **** storm of people complaining about the price increase. Like, I get it. I absolutely do. But how is this a surprise? Apple raises the price of their Plus iPhone $29, and no one blinks an eye.

But these telecom companies raise the price on your plan, and this one they haven't offered for almost 7 years and you're surprised? I'm not defending what they're doing, and I know this is going to trigger a lot of people, but getting worked up over a trivial amount of money just isn't worth it. Especially when you knew it was coming.

And if you want to flame me, keep it civil please. There's worse things in the world than getting worked up over $5.
Rating: 13 Votes
Avatar
yg17
19 months ago
The best thing I ever did was leave AT&T both as an employee and customer.
Rating: 10 Votes
Avatar
0815
19 months ago

I switched to T-Mobile a couple years ago. Couldn't be happier.
They have similar unlimited plans, and none are anywhere close to $90/user

Same here ... paying 120 for 4 people on the 6GB plan (per phone) - thanks to most streaming services not counting against the data plan I have basically unlimited. Was always lucky and never had any coverage issues. Bad areas exist, but way less than most expect. The free Europa data also saved me a ton of money this year.
Rating: 9 Votes
Avatar
twocents
19 months ago
Hmm looks like CEO Randall wanted a raise
Rating: 8 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]