Thoughts on New at&T Data Plans

Earlier today I posted about AT&T’s announcement of tethering, which has me most intrigued. The other part of the announcement — actually the main part of the announcement and what has received the most press — was that AT&T is changing the rates for their data plan.

Macworld has a great “What You Need To Know” piece, and you should definitely check it out. In a nutshell, here’s the gist for new iPhone users:

If you’re signing up for a iPhone as a brand new customer—and at this point, we’d recommend waiting until after the WWDC keynote to make any decisions—then you can opt for either the 200MB DataPlus plan for $15 per month or the 2GB DataPro plan for $25. If you want tethering, you’ll have to sign up for the DataPro plan, and tethering will cost you an additional $20 every month. Either way, however, you’ll also get access to AT&T’s nationwide network of 20,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in locations such as many Starbucks and airports.

If you are an existing iPhone user, like myself, you can keep the $30/month unlimited plan. After checking my AT&T usage, this is what I found:

As you can see, I regularly climb higher than 200MB/month, which really doesn’t matter since I will want tethering and must get the DataPro plan to qualify. And there, dear reader, is the rub.

If you are a current iPhone user with the $30/month unlimited plan and do not want tethering, all is well with the world. Nothing has to change, even if you upgrade to the new iPhone.

However, if you have an unlimited plan and want tethering, life is going to change. You have to have the DataPro plan. Granted, you’ll save $5/month for the first 2GB. If you stay under that limit, good on you! You just saved $5/month.

If, however, you exceed that 2GB limit, you’re dishing out another $10 for each 1GB you go over.

As for the overage charges, they are not bad compared to other networks. The comparison for current users, however, is not to other carriers but to our current carrier and what we’re paying. In other words, those of us who yearn for tethering will get screwed if we pass the 2GB usage mark.

At the end of the day, I can’t get too worked up over it. (Admittedly, I don’t expect to stream a lot of movies over 3G while tethered to my iPhone, though.)

The reason I can’t get worked up over it is that AT&T has to ensure that not only is their network viable but that it is able to expand as usage dictates. The only way to do that is to charge responsible amounts that both a) make it affordable to users and b) allow them to upgrade their network to meet increasing user loads.

That said, even with the DataPro plan, I have plenty of room to “grow” my usage when I start tethering to my MacBook (which is my main desire), my iPad (if possible but likely not) and perhaps other laptops (if multiple connections are allowed like with the Palm Pre).