AT&T IS BRINGING BACK AN UNLIMITED DATA PLAN

AT&T is bringing back an
unlimited data plan but not for
all wireless subscribers.
Starting Tuesday, DirecTV and U-
Verse customers will have the
opportunity to pay $100 per month
for a single line of unlimited
data, talk, and text on AT&T’s
network. Additional phones will
cost $40 per line, and if you
add four smartphones you’ll get
the fourth line for free after
the first two months.
You can add a tablet as well for
$40 per month, or you can opt
for a $10 monthly charge and
limit the tablet to just 1GB of
data per month. Overages on the
$10 option are a killer, however,
as every gigabyte after that will
set you back $15.
The story behind the story: The
new unlimited plan is AT&T’s
attempt to make the most of its
DirecTV acquisition that closed
in July. The idea is that the
company’s TV subscribers will
want unlimited data to stream
shows from DirecTV or U-Verse
while on the go. Video streams
are always a killer for data
caps, but that goes doubly so
when you have LTE devices thirsty
for high-definition images. AT&T
says the new unlimited offer is
just “the first of many
integrated video and mobility
offers” slated to debut in 2016.
The limits of unlimited
For AT&T, “unlimited data”
means you will be able to use up
to 22GB of data per line
unfettered. After that, AT&T will
slow down your traffic “during
periods of network congestion.”
That’s standard for AT&T’s new
throttling policy for unlimited
plans that rolled out in
September following a fine in
July from the Federal
Communications Commission. Sprint
has a similar limit of 23GB for
its $70 unlimited plan before it
will start to throttle.
As for AT&T wireless subscribers
looking to get a TV package, AT&T
is currently offering DirecTV and
U-Verse subscriptions starting at
$20 per month. The catch is that
price is only for the first 12
months and the deal requires a
two-year commitment.
That’s a pretty standard cable
deal you can find with pretty
much any cable company as a new
subscriber. If that doesn’t suit
your fancy, you may want to wait