[kpin_it_real]

just saw this article and thought I would share....Some may know or heard of it...

The CEO of AT&T's mobile business, Ralph de la Vega, told CNET in an interview that the company is working on family data plans that would give consumers one big pot of data that all devices could share. While minute plans have worked this way for years, since tiered data came along, customers have been waiting on a way to pool their data.

No details are available on how the plans will work, or how it will affect subsidized devices. It's also unclear whether or not devices like tablets would be entered into the mix. One of the biggest hang ups on selling network-enabled tablets (aside from the increased device price) is convincing customers to buy into yet another data plan. If devices could be grouped together on one large data plan, this might boost sales.

Of course, any speculation about how the plans will work is just that at the moment. We do know Verizon is pursuing similar plans, so it will be interesting to see how these two compete on their pricing structures. So, now begins the waiting game.

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in AT&T, News

[TeaBoy]

Like i said before, Roll over data sounds good to me...just like roll over minutes

[Mister Xiado]

That's all well and good until someone decides to use six terabytes in a week by connecting their home network to their phone, then cries that the speed is too slow, divided fourteen ways.

[dfb8085]

I will with hold judgement to I see prices and plans available. I am afraid this is another way for us that are on unlimited plans to try and entice use to get off of unlimited. I have individual unlimited plans on all my phones so I will have to compare cost on any new plans. You can bet I would have to see a considerable savings before making a switch

[sedalia066]

As the market moves more to one driven by data this is a move we are likely to see. The cost will not likely fall as carriers will need better infrastructure to serve the consumer. Profit will demand higher fees. And so far consumers are responding by paying ever more for data. Why expect a change in the future?

[crackcookie]

I easily see them offering 2, 5, 10, and 20-25. Simply because you have to have options for having 5 phones with 300MB or 5 phones with 2 gigs or more.

Anyway, Verizon will release a more expensive version and ATT will prolly follow suit. If I can get 5 gigs for around 40, that would be fine.

[dfb8085]

now that verizon has released their new plans att probably will be quick to counter. Lets hope anyway but if they play it right they may be able to pull some customers away from the big red. Looks like the big red is forcing people away from their unlimited plans by refusing to honor them on new devices. Only way you can keep your unlimited is to pay full price for your next phone. Lets hope att doesn't take this approach in order to retain their current customers covered by these plans. If they do I for one would consider looking else where just to compare. With BB10 and the new iPhone 5 right around the corner the ones of us (me included) who are holding off changing phones till then if they make the date to switch to shared plans before then we may lose the chance to get a new phone at on contract prices.

[dfb8085]

I guess the longer we go with no word from att the better. Maybe their looking at what happens to verizon before jumping off the deep end

[crackcookie]

That's all well and good until someone decides to use six terabytes in a week by connecting their home network to their phone, then cries that the speed is too slow, divided fourteen ways.

If you are an ATT customer you know that you can only keep your rollover minutes for a year. So if you have 30 gigs of data over 10 months, that would be 300ish. And if you built up THAT much, you probably wouldn't just sit there and use them all at once.

Data is technically fine to use up, as long as no one else is using it. So say you are traveling cross country, and you use 30 GBs, that is fine, because you are sitting there taking it from someone.

The ability to buy any device you want, say a 4G playbook, not have to enter a contract with THAT device, and just be able to go online with it when you please would be great

[tapioca770]

shared data similar to verizons plan will be available the end of august according to att.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9810 using Tapatalk

[crackcookie]

Yeah ATT is trying to make money, not satisfy its users or something crazy like that.

[TheScionicMan]

I saw a Verizon ad recently for a tablet and it was $10/month additional to add it to a shared data plan, IIRC.

[Mister Xiado]

The problem I have with the Mobile Share system is that it is insanely worded, and would drive language professors to drinking. Going by the grammar alone, it implies an activation fee for each line being added to the sharing group, which is unlikely to be true. In contrast, I will explain "pro-rated charges".

AT&T bills by the day. If you have a feature that costs $30 per month, and you have it for 8 days, you will be billed $8. If you already had this feature, and take it off 8 days before the end of your bill cycle, you will be refunded $8.

Since AT&T bills in advance, anything you do in the midst of a bill cycle will appear on the next bill. Add a new line, and the activation fee and the first partial month of service charges will appear on the next bill, along with your new regular monthly charges. This makes it a good reason to add new lines on the last day of your bill cycle, so you only get one day's worth of charges on top of your new regular billed charges.

I do not have a doctorate in language, and I am not a lawyer. I just find explaining by example and analogizing to facilitate more complete understanding.

And I don't understand ANY of the copy I've seen about Mobile Share yet.

[RoseBud68]

Don't think I'll be jumping on AT&T new share plane.

$60.00 Family plan Roll over minutes. (Old Cingular plan)
$30.00 Unlimited family text
$15.00 X 4 200MB data plan
$9.99 X 3 per line

Total bill with all the Dam taxes
$195.00

New share plane would have my bill at over $230.00, Yea I get more Data at 1GB but none of us are going over the 200MB per month.

[Mister Xiado]

Eh, it's not advantageous to everyone, but if you have one smartphone and one basic phone, with 700 minutes and unlimited messaging, I believe it saves quite a bit. Can't quite recall, but all will be painfully simple in 15 days.