AT&T Discontinues its Unlimited Data Plan

AT&T has recently announced it will be discontinuing its popular unlimited data plan replacing it with two limited-data options.  The tiered plans are named “DataPlus” which offers 200 megabytes of data for $15 and “DataPro” providing 2 gigabytes of data for $25.   AT&T expects customers to benefit from the change as they can now choose the best data plan to meet their needs and their budget.

How Much is 2 Gigabytes of Data?

So, how much data do customers use for common tasks such as receiving emails, visiting websites, and downloading music, movies and television shows?  AT&T estimates that 2 gigabytes will get you 10,000 emails without attachments, 1,150 emails with attachments, 4,000 web pages, 500 posts of photos to social media sites, and 200 minutes of streaming video.  Questions are arising whether these estimates paint an accurate picture.  Will this be enough data for users?  What about ads – will they eat into data allowances? AT&T is asking consumers to wait and see before making assumptions that these plans will not be sufficient.

For users concerned about going over their data limit and being stuck with hefty cell phone bills, AT&T states that customers will receive regular updates of their data consumption and will be alerted when they have reached 65%, 90%, and 100% of their data allowance.   An additional gigabyte can be purchased for $10 at that time if needed.

What the Critics Say

Regardless of AT&T’s wait-and-see confidence, their overage alerts, and the ability to buy extra data, critics say users will simply not fully utilize their devices.  With the growing popularity of online access via mobile devices and the streaming of mobile videos (think Netflix’s soon-to-be-released Watch Instantly feature for the iPhone), the timing could not be worse.