AT&T declared Wednesday that it will start offering metered data plans for mobile device users sooner than all-you-can-use monthly plan. For people who use not more than 200 megabytes of data a month, the price of the novel plan is successfully cut in half.
The hottest proclamation could signal the beginning of a new arms race between mobile gadget carriers. In the past, carriers tried to woo buyers by offering mobile packages that were gauged by the number of voice minutes available each month. But as my colleague Jenna Wortham wrote in last month, people are talking on handsets less as data usages continues to rise.
AT&T also publicized a new service that will let smartphone, owners join their apparatus, including the iPhone, to a computer and use the phone to access the Internet as a modem. Apple iPhone customers have long requested that service.
The lowest-priced data option is called DataPlus and will cost $15 a month. It gives mobile handset subscribers access to 200 megabytes of data each month enough to send and receive 1,000 e-mails without attachments and an additional 150 with attachments. The plan would also tender access to 400 Web pages, the ability to post 50 photos to social Web sites and watch up to 20 minutes of streaming video through the mobile phone.
AT&T alleged in a press release that 65 percent of AT&T smartphone customers use less than 200 MB of data per month on average. If DataPlus users go over the allotted 200 megabytes in a single month they will have the option to purchase an additional 200 megabytes for another $15.
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