AT&T launches cheap prepaid unlimited plan with slow data speeds

 

AT&T is adding an unlimited data option to its prepaid GoPhone plans — but the new option comes with some serious constraints.

The plan costs $60 per month and does technically include unlimited data. But AT&T won’t let subscribers get fast speeds, capping the plan at 3Mbps. For context, the metrics firm OpenSignal says that AT&T’s average LTE speed is 7.93Mbps, so this plan cuts speeds by more than half.

Not only will subscribers have to put up with slower data during typical usage, but they’ll see even slower speeds if they go beyond 22GB of data in a single month. That’s the same thing AT&T does on its other unlimited plans, but it feels even more egregious here since customers have to deal with a bad speed cap in the first place.

You aren’t able to stream HD video using this plan, either — AT&T limits streams to 480p. The plan also includes unlimited call time and texting, but there doesn’t appear to be any tethering included. The only other constraint is that you’ll have to sign up for automatic bill pay to get the plan.

This is definitely one of the cheaper ways to get unlimited data, but it’s not exactly a good deal. If you’re using that much data, you’re probably loading a lot of websites on the go — and this plan’s limitations are just going to slow you down. (AT&T launched a post-paid version of this plan a couple weeks ago, featuring most of the same constraints and more confusing pricing.)

Alongside the unlimited plan, AT&T is also bumping up its $40 per month GoPhone tier to include 6GB of high-speed data, instead of just 4GB. As before, speeds cut down to a mostly unusable 128Kbps after that.

The article was published on : theverge