Sharing Data
Some months back, I was looking for places to save money and figured out that I could cut back the data plans on our phones from the original unlimited plans to the lowest-tier, 200 MB per month plans. Looking at our data usage, I determined that we were almost always on WiFi when we used our phones for anything significant. It wasn’t long after that my company decided to forbid personal devices on its wireless network, and my data usage went up significantly. My wife’s remained low. Occasionally, I would barely go over 200 MBs, and AT&T would bill me $15 for an additional 200 MBs, which I didn’t use. This was aggravating, considering my wife had used less than 100 MBs of hers. That just didn’t seem fair. Why can’t we share our data the same way we share our minutes?
Since that time, my data use has continued to increase, and I moved up to 300 MBs a month. I added my daughter to the plan for her birthday, also at 300 MBs, which is now the lowest tier. My wife is still on the discontinued 200 MB plan. So, at $55 per month, we have 800 MBs distributed between us. If one of us goes over our individual limit, regardless of how little we use, the fee doubles. And unlike minutes, data doesn’t roll over.
AT&T just announced Mobile Share, available at the end of this month.
Get Unlimited Talk & Text plus shared data for all your devices on one simple plan. Plans range from 1GB to 20GB of data to share, and the more you share the more you save. Pick your plan, add up to 10 devices and you’re ready to talk, text, browse the internet and more – it’s all included in your AT&T Mobile Share Plan.
From what I can gather, it would cost $130 for the three of us to share 1 GB of data with unlimited talk and text. $150 would give us 4 GBs. If I understand correctly, it’s going to be much more cost effective. I’ve not been particularly impressed with AT&T in the past, but this has the potential to change my mind.
