AT&T Prepaid has launched a new wireless plan and it is a peculiar throwback to the past with a 3Mbps speed cap. The new plan is priced at $50/month or $40/month with autopay billing. It includes unlimited talk, text, and data. The first 30GB of data consumed in a monthly billing cycle is available at the 3Mbps speed limit. After 30GB, data speeds are further reduced to 1.5Mbps. Additional plan features include talk, text, and data usage in Mexico and Canada and international texting to over 230 countries. Data usage in Canada is limited to 25GB per billing cycle before speeds are reduced to 512Kbps. Hotspot use is prohibited, content identified as video will stream no faster than 2Mbps. This plan is exclusive to single-line customers; it cannot be added to multiline accounts. Taxes and fees are extra.
What's peculiar about this plan is that AT&T once had a similar offering through its other prepaid brand, Cricket Wireless. In July 2017, BestMVNO reported on Cricket Wireless's launch of a promotional two-line for $80 unlimited data plan with a 3Mbps speed cap. That was followed up with the September 2017 launch of a regular rate card plan priced at $55/mo or $50/mo with autopay billing. Like the two-line promotional offer, it came with a 3Mbps speed cap, international texting to 38 countries, and talk text and data roaming in both Mexico and Canada. The plan was available for nearly 3 years, having been retired in July 2020.
It seems odd to me that AT&T would elect to bring back a plan through AT&T Prepaid very similar to what it first offered seven years ago through Cricket Wireless. It is unimaginative and seems out of place in today's market, particularly at the price point it's being offered at. Furthermore, given that the plan was removed from Cricket's lineup 3.5 years ago, I have to believe it wasn't something that appealed to potential subscribers yet now it's back with AT&T Prepaid.
This plan might be a more reasonable offering if its cost were reduced by half. There are just too many plans on the market right now offering a better value than this. Regardless of price, a speed-capped plan won't be suitable for everyone. In a 5G world where data speeds are capable of being multiple times faster than what they were when Cricket discontinued its offering in 2020, and with the continued growth of video consumption on mobile devices, a maximum speed cap of 3Mbps seems like it may be out of place in today's market. So if AT&T Prepaid wants people to actually subscribe to this plan, increasing its speed limit to 5-10Mbps and lowering its price to $20/month should make it more appealing. Agree or disagree? Leave a comment below.
I’m going to switch to this plan I’m on AT&T prepaid with a iPhone 14 Pro Max I was paying $30 a month for unlimited talk tex and 5GB of data .. for $10 more $40 a month with autopay that will add the unlimited data slow but usable even my videos work great also Global Texting and roaming in Canada Mexico and Hawaii on my book it’s a great value because now I just use my phone without worrying about it
Thanks for the feedback. I would be interested to hear your experience after you’ve been on it a month or two.
I think this AT&T Prepaid plan is the lowest regular price 30-day unlimited plan that includes unlimited roaming in Canada and/or Mexico.
The Visible+ promo is $5 less/mo right now, but only for 24 months before the price goes back to $45/mo.
Some customers could live with the 15GB Simple Mobile plan that includes unlimited roaming up to plan limits in Mexico and other Latin American countries (but not Canada). $37.50 with autopay. I think Latin American roaming is a big reason why Simple is the top-selling carrier at independent shops. Maybe AT&T wants a piece of that business, the customers who use a lot of data but don’t need the fastest speeds.
I’ll add that this wasn’t just a plan on Cricket—AT&T prepaid actually had a 3Mbps capped plan back in 2017: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/03/atts-truly-unlimited-prepaid-plan-has-no-hotspot-max-speed-of-3mbps/
They also had a 3Mbps postpaid plan branded as Unlimited Choice: https://about.att.com/story/new_offers_for_unlimited_customers.html
(So yeah, seven years later and AT&T thinks this is new and innovative?)
Who will this new $40/month unlimited plan satisfy with the lowest price that meets their needs? Customers who:
(1) must use the AT&T wireless network; (2) don’t want to for pay 3, 6 or 12 months of up front; (3) want the Canada and Mexico roaming; (4) don’t need the fastest mobile data or hotspot, but they use a lot of data and need reasonable speeds after the ‘high’ speed data is used up; (5) don’t want to be de-prioritized on the network, perhaps due to network congestion in their area; and/or (6) want assurance they will get adequate customer support from a major carrier or their sub-brand.
Will AT&T find enough of these customers to make good money with this plan?
Hard to say for sure. They must have done ‘some’ market research and have a strategy for how they will attract customers.
What other AT&T sub-brand or MVNO meets all (2) through (5) above at a lower price?
To start, pick a boost brand, add Mexico/Canada roaming and it’s cheaper than this AT&T plan. Priority data may be missing but doesn’t seem to really matter on AT&T. Also, watch out for US Mobile’s upcoming release on AT&T which I expect to match their Warp 5G, GSM plans. There are multiple brands on both T-Mobile and Verizon that offer those features for less without the need for multi-month discount plans. But AT&T right now is behind here in what it offers to its MVNO partners compared to other networks.
Missing from article, is the confusion the $40 price point will now cause for general consumers minus enthusiasts. There are now two $40 plans from AT&T Prepaid
Boost doesn’t offer roaming in Canada or Mexico. Their add-on $5 and $10 cover calling and texting. Boost throttles to 512 kbps after high speed data is used up, 1/3 the speed of the AT&T Prepaid plan. Boost customers can’t pick AT&T service online, and will have to go to a store. Boost might reject their phone for AT&T service.
The US Mobile AT&T plan might cost less if they ever offer it. US Mobile has been talking about possible AT&T service for a while but nothing is confirmed yet. Can they close the deal? Potential customers who need unlimited service on AT&T network now can’t depend on US Mobile.
Correction: Boost “Todo Mexico” option does offer roaming in Mexico with “up to 8GB/month while roaming in Mexico depending on the plan you have.“
Boost Infinite’s add on also enables Canada and Mexico roaming.
And Boost Mobile also partnered with another provider to offer their own branded eSIM for roaming in addition to ToDo.
https://bestmvno.com/boost-mobile/boost-mobile-quietly-released-an-international-esim-option/
Boost’s throttled speed may be 1/3 AT&Ts yet their full speed allotment can be 100-200x plus faster of course there are diminishing returns with that once over a certain multiple.
Boost Infinite base $25 plan with the $10 (5GB limit) Total America Connect option looks like the most competitive alternative plan if Infinite lets customers can use their phone (more likely than with Boost for AT&T, based on the Infinite website description). Hopefully Infinite network management control won’t try to hold on to a weak T-Mobile or Boost network signal to save money if AT&T is stronger in certain areas and the customer needs AT&T for good service.
The ‘Todo Mexico’ option on a Boost AT&T plan is only available for “eligible plans,” which is undefined on the website as far as I can tell. Customers use their online account and/or app to see options for their plan – not customer friendly for plan shoppers.
Boost Mobile has other Todo add ons. You can see them when you add a plan to you cart and they go for an upsell. For instance, the $25 plan has a $5 Todo add on but only appears to add roaming in Mexico
Correction: With the Infinite $25 base plan they assign the customer to one network for service, based on the device and location (sounds like Boost Mobile). So customers might not be able to get AT&T service with the base plan and their phone when Boost Infinite thinks T-Mobile should be adequate, for example.