AT&T to Tier Mobile Broadband Offerings

WASHINGTON, June 2, 2010 – AT&T today announced a major change to its mobile broadband plans. It has shifted from its current unlimited plan, which had a cap of 5 gigabytes a month, to a two-tiered meter based plan.

The first tier called DataPlus will cost $15 per month for up to 200 MB of data, with additional blocks of 200 MB at $15 each. The second tier is called DataPro costing $25 per month for up to 2GB of data, with additional blocks of 1 GB at $10 each.

Additionally, users who subscribe to the DataPro plan will be able to use their phones as a mobile hotspot or tether their devices to it for an additional $20 per month fee.

This new pricing will be extended to the Apple iPad that will shift from a unlimited plan to a 2 GB per month for $25.

This shift from unlimited to metered service is one that many telecom firms have been claiming is inevitable but this new model could have a negative effect on the growth of the mobile web. The unlimited usage model that has been the standard for terrestrial internet services has often been cited as one of the main reasons why the internet grew so rapidly.