The carrier currently offers those grandfathered into the plan unlimited data for $30 a month. Unfortunately, the price will now go up to $35 a month, which may not seem high, but it’s entirely possible that the company will introduce a new price hike soon after. Nothing else will change, so talk and text costs are still separate from the data fee.
The new price will go into effect in February 2016. Other major carriers have been jacking up prices as well. Most recently, T-Mobile quietly increased its unlimited data price when it announced its Binge On service in early November. Its data plans jumped from $30 to $45, a bigger $15 spike, for new customers. Verizon made a bigger increase and jacked its unlimited data price plan up $20, bringing it up to about $50 per month.
AT&T’s price hike comes after the company said it would throttle unlimited data plans only after customers surpass 22GB per month, a big difference from when the company used to throttle it after a measly 5GB of usage.
Earlier in the year, the Federal Trade Commision and the FCC alleged that AT&T violated the FTC Act by failing to state its throttling rules in marketing materials and to customers on its grandfathered unlimited data plan, which it did for many years. AT&T said it only throttled the top 5 percent of users, but the FCC and FTC said the company reduced speeds after as little as 2GB of use. The carrier disagreed with any wrongdoing, but was hit with a record-breaking $100-million fine.
AT&T may not be able to throttle your unlimited data early anymore, but it can still charge you a pretty penny for the privilege of limitless data.
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