John Paczkowski

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AT&T Announces New “We Had to Because Verizon Did” Pricing Plans

January 15, 2010 at 4:52 pm PT

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When Verizon Wireless (VZ) announced in February 2008 that it would offer unlimited mobile phone calls for a flat rate of $99.99 a month, it took AT&T (T) a matter of hours to craft a similar rate plan and issue a press release touting it. No surprise then that Verizon’s announcement this morning of a $69.99-a-month nationwide voice plan and an $89.99-a-month voice-and-text plan was quickly followed by AT&T’s announcement of similar offerings. They are:

? Feature Phone customers may choose unlimited talk for $69.99. Family Talk customers (prices assume two lines) may choose unlimited talk for $119.99 per month. Texting plans remain unchanged at $20 for unlimited plans for individuals and $30 for Family Talk plans.

? Quick Messaging Device customers may choose unlimited talk for $69.99 and Family Talk plans may choose unlimited talk for $119.99 per month (for two lines). These plans require a minimum of $20 per month for individual plans and $30 per month for Family Talk plans in texting and/or Web browsing packages for new and upgrading customers.

? All smartphone customers, including iPhone customers, may now buy unlimited voice and data for $99.99. For smartphone customers with Family Talk plans (prices assume two smartphones), unlimited voice and data is now available for $179.99. Texting plans remain unchanged at $20 for unlimited plans for individuals, $30 for Family Talk Plans.

Tagged with: AT&T, customers, digital, Family Talk, individuals, Internet, John Paczkowski, phone calls, press release, price, Quick Messaging, Quick Messaging Device, rate plan, smartphone, telecom, texting, unlimited, unlimited talk, Verizon Wireless, voice plan, voice-and-text plan, Web browsing

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  • Anonymous

    ha ha ha… this came a month after my husband and I changed our service to sprint because they don’t charge extra for smartphone data plans. We pay $100 for 1500 minutes, unlimited web, text and navigation. A $40 savings over our old ATT rates and we have the android phones with no extra fees.

  • Anonymous

    Ah Imitation is still the most sincre form of flattery

  • darius1

    Current Unlimited Mobile all you can use pricing, which includes Voice/Data/Texting, as of yesterday is as follows:

    ATT – $ 120
    Verizon -$120
    Sprint – $70

    Essentially you are getting Text and Data for free with Sprint.

  • Anonymous

    after some of sprint’s fraudulent activity I wouldn’t use one of their phones for free (they doctored my account records and tried to charge a cancellation fee after the contract was up, good thing I was paying by credit card, I sent mastercard after them)

  • Anonymous

    I am so incredibly annoyed with the price war between AT&T and Verizon. The two competing companies do need to keep similar prices to continue to attract and retain customers, fair enough. However, I’m so sick of them telling me why I should not choose the other one. Instead of AT&T telling me why I should not choose Verizon, tell me why I should choose them. Sure, keep prices similar. They are huge competitors and will react to each other. However, the price war is getting old for customers.

  • tomtom200000

    Wow John – as always, why not jsut report what happen. Let's add the editorial pro-Verizon feelings into your piece.

    How come you have not done any pieces on Googles ddouble ETF or Verizon's Fios ETF charges or the fact that Verizon new pricing is really for them to increase Data revenues.

  • http://chriswoods.co.uk/ Christopher Woods

    What I'm curious to know is why this costs so much – you can get unlimited calls and texts from an increasing amount of UK mobile telcos from just £30 a month, which isn't much more than $60. Granted there's no data included in that (but it wouldn't cost much more; my own telco offers it from £5 a month or bundled with many of its slightly higher price deals).

    What gives with the seemingly arbitrary price points? Economy of scale should dictate that US prices be FAR lower than UK prices, but the inverse seems true.