Altice Mobile is no longer an "unlimited GB" only wireless plan provider. The MVNO recently updated its offerings to include 3 different plans with a starting price tag of $12/line for a plan with 1GB of high-speed data. There's also a new plan with 3GB of data for $20/month to go along with the $30/month "Unlimited GB" plan. Altice Mobile's homepage tagline now reads that customers can "take control with flexible data." This presumably is a reference to the fact that customers can change plans on the fly and those with multiple lines don't all have to be on the same plans. Altice Mobile's updated plans do come with some important to know fine print. So let's examine it.
Altice Mobile's Updated Plans Have Limitations
Unfortunately, these new plan offerings are only available to NEW customers. However, current customers can add new lines to their account containing one of the updated plans. A maximum of 5 lines can be added to a residential consumer account and 10 to a business account. In contrast to the major carriers, customers can mix and match unlimited plans with limited plans under one account. Of course, Altice Mobile does have a funny definition of the word unlimited.
The $30 plan referred to as the "Unlimited GB" plan actually only contains 20GB of high-speed data before data throttling to 2G data speeds occurs. The other two plans also come with throttled data once their high-speed data caps have been reached. However, customers can add a 1GB data top-up to the new $12 and $20 plans, but it is unavailable on the $30 plan. The data top-up lasts for 30 days and costs $6.
Taxes and fees cost extra with all of Altice Mobile's plans. A $20 activation fee may also apply. The activation fee was previously $10 and I'm not exactly sure of the date it got increased.
The plans include mobile hotspot with hotspot data speeds limited to 600Kbps. Video streaming is limited to a resolution of 480p or about DVD quality. The prices shown include a $10/line discount for Optimum and Suddenlink customers. So prices are actually $10 higher per month if you don't already subscribe to Optimum or Suddenlink.
Altice Mobile Plans Summarized
Altice Mobile's updated plans summarized now look like this:
- $12/month ($22 w/o Optimum or Suddenlink subscription) - 1GB high-speed data
- $20/month ($30 w/o Optimum or Suddenlink subscription) - 3GB high-speed data
- $30/month ($40 w/o Optimum or Suddenlink subscription) - 20GB high-speed data
International Roaming Policy Changes
Another important change to take note of with the plan updates is that Altice Mobile changed its international roaming policies.
Previously, the $30 plan included 1GB of 4G LTE data available for usage while traveling in 35 countries at no extra charge. Unlimited talk and text were also available for use abroad and subscribers could call and text internationally from the USA. But effective September 13th, 2020 this changed. Customers who signed up for a plan before that date get to keep their international talk, text, and roaming benefits at no extra cost. All new customers since that date must pay for an add-on package if they'd like to call or text internationally and must pay for a 2nd add-on if they'd like to use their phone while traveling internationally. International roaming packages are available as daily and weekly options and vary by the country a customer is traveling to. Daily travel passes start at $10/day and weekly passes start at $40/week. Daily travel passes top out at $35/day and weekly at $100/week. So these are very significant changes compared to what was previously offered.
The travel passes do not include unlimited talk and text. To call and text from the USA to abroad customers must now signup for a monthly international plan starting at a rate of $20/month. Rates get as high as $60/month and all depend on what countries the subscriber needs to call or text.