AT&T Introduces New Unlimited Plans
AT&T has kicked off the week with a major change to its unlimited mobile options. On November 3rd, the mobile giant replaced its current Unlimited &More plan with two new offerings, along with a third to be rolled out later this month.
The new plans are:
- Unlimited Starter: $65 per month for 1 line
- Unlimited Extra: $75 per month for 1 line
AT&T Unlimited Starter and Unlimited Extra Plans
| Unlimited &More | *NEW* Unlimited Starter | *NEW* Unlimited Extra | |
| Price | 1 line – $70/month 4 lines – $160/month | 1 line – $65/month 4 lines – $140/month | 1 line – $75/month 4 lines – $160/month |
| Data Deprioritization | Anytime | Anytime | After 50 GB (during congestion) |
| Hotspot Data | N/A | N/A | 15GB/month |
| Features | Unlimited talk & text (U.S., Canada, Mexico) SD video streaming Fraud and spam alerts | Unlimited talk & text (U.S., Canada, Mexico) SD video streaming Fraud and spam alerts | Unlimited talk & text (U.S., Canada, Mexico) SD video streaming Fraud and spam alerts |
| Entertainment Extras | AT&T WatchTV | N/A | N/A |
Data correct as of 11/6/2019
For a single line, Unlimited Starter is $65/month with a $10 autopay discount. That’s cheaper than the cost of Unlimited &More, but AT&T has dropped more than just the price: WatchTV, AT&T’s live and on-demand streaming television feature, is no longer included for free with your plan. It does, however, include unlimited talk, text, and data within the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, plus unlimited texting to over 120 countries and standard definition video streaming.
Unlimited Extra is just slightly more expensive than the previous Unlimited &More plan, coming in at $75/month for a single line. However, it offers additional benefits like 15GB of hotspot data and a really high data deprioritization threshold (that’s the amount of data you can use in a month before your speeds are potentially slowed).
Both plan prices drop with multi-line discounts: Unlimited Starter falls to $35 per line for four lines, and Unlimited Extra drops to $40, which was the same price as the Unlimited &More multi-line cost. Each of these plans is also eligible for AT&T’s 25% discount for active duty military, veterans, and first responders, as well as the soon-to-be-debuted Unlimited Elite plan.
AT&T Unlimited Elite
| Unlimited &More Premium | *NEW* Unlimited Elite | |
| Price | 1 line – $80/month 4 lines – $190/month | 1 line – $85/month 4 lines – $200/month |
| Data Deprioritization | After 22 GB (during congestion) | After 100 GB (during congestion) |
| Hotspot Data | 15 GB/month | 30 GB/month |
| Features | Unlimited talk & text (U.S., Canada, Mexico) HD video streaming Fraud and spam alerts | Unlimited talk & text (U.S., Canada, Mexico) HD video streaming Fraud and spam alerts |
| Entertainment Extras | AT&T WatchTV Selection of premium movie or music service | HBO subscription Free HBO Max upgrade (once available in 2020) |
Data correct as of 11/6/2019
In conjunction with its Starter and Extra plans, AT&T announced a new premium unlimited offering, Unlimited Elite. This plan is likely to replace the current Unlimited &More Premium plan. Though not yet publicly available, the Unlimited Elite plan is expected to feature HD streaming and include 30GB of hotspot data per line.
Unlimited Elite is pricier than Unlimited &More Premium on all fronts, but it also offers double the amount of hotspot data and quadruple the data prioritization bandwidth. For data hounds, this is a good deal. The new Unlimited Elite also offers HBO, and then once it makes its 2020 debut, HBO Max.
| Monthly Price | Hotspot Data | Mexico & Canada | Streaming Quality | Entertainment | |
| AT&T Unlimited Starter | 1 line – $65 4 lines – $140 | N/A | Unlimited talk, text, and data | SD | N/A |
| AT&T Unlimited Extra | 1 line – $75 4 lines – $160 | 15 GB | Unlimited talk, text, and data | SD | N/A |
| Verizon Start Unlimited | 1 line – $70 4 lines – $140 | N/A | Unlimited talk, text, and data | SD | 6-months of Apple Music |
| Verizon Play More Unlimited | 1 line – $80 4 lines – $180 | Unlimited – up to 15 GB 4G LTE | Unlimited talk, text, and data | HD | Apple Music |
| Verizon Do More Unlimited | 1 line – $80 4 lines – $180 | Unlimited – up to 15 GB 4G LTE | Unlimited talk, text, and data | SD | 6-monts of Apple Music |
| Sprint Unlimited Kickstart | 1 line – $35 4 lines – $140 | N/A | Unlimited talk, text, and data | SD | N/A |
| Sprint Unlimited Basic | 1 line – $60 4 lines – $100 | 500 MB | Unlimited talk and text 5 GB of data | SD | Hulu |
| Sprint Unlimited Plus | 1 line – $70 4 lines – $140 | 50 GB | Unlimited talk and text 10 GB of data | HD | Hulu Tidal Music |
| T-Mobile Essentials | 1 line – $60 4 lines – $120 | Unlimited 3G | Unlimited talk, text, and data | SD | N/A |
| T-Mobile Magenta | 1 line –$70 4 lines – $140 | 3GB 4G LTE | Unlimited talk, text, and data | SD | Netflix Basic 1 hour in-flight Wi-Fi |
Data correct as of 11/6/2019
AT&T’s new lower price for the Unlimited Starter plan makes it one of the least expensive of all the major carriers—only Sprint and T-Mobile offer slightly cheaper options for a single line, and its multi-line discount places AT&T solidly within the lower third of bundle costs.
However, nearly all of the other carriers provide bells and whistles that, for the price, make their plans more far appealing. All of them include HD streaming and entertainment perks in at least one standard unlimited plan; AT&T includes neither. Their hotspot data allowance is relatively small compared to Verizon and T-Mobile’s unlimited offerings—even Sprint jumps all the way up to 50GB for its Unlimited Plus plan, compared to the 15GB in AT&T’s Unlimited Extra plan.