Earlier today, AT&T sent out a press release announcing a series of regional offers — free DirecTV Now for NYC residents, free home internet for Chicago customers, and the same iPhone X buy-one-get-one it’s been offering nationwide to customers in LA.
Buried at the bottom of the release was something far more significant, changes to AT&T’s unlimited plans, and a pricing change that actually makes its top-tier unlimited plan $10 a month cheaper. Normally, a price cut that significant is something to scream about, so why is AT&T trying to bury the news?
AT&T’s two unlimited plans are now called Unlimited Plus Enhanced and Unlimited Choice Enhanced. Unlimited Plus is $80 per line, $10 less than AT&T’s previous flagship Unlimited plan. It also comes with a 15GB tethering data allowance, an increase of 5GB over the old plan.
Unlimited Choice, on the other hand, has seen a $5 increase to $65 per month for a single line, although the pricing for four lines stays the same, at $40 per line. (All those prices are taking into account autopay and paperless billing.) Customers on the Unlimited Choice plan are liable to be deprioritized during times of congestion, and Unlimited Plus customers will be deprioritized if they use more than 22GB of data in a month.
Interestingly, the regional deals for NYC and Chicago both require customers to switch to one of the new Unlimited plans, so it appears that AT&T has realized its old pricing strategy wasn’t working. Lowering the price for the top tier and bumping the price for the cheaper plan makes it seem like AT&T had too many customers on the cheaper plan, and it wants to incentivize more people to move to the $80-a-month plan without the difficulty of actually hiking anyone’s rates. That’s just a guess, however, and this could simply be a plan change to try and make the network’s service more competitive.
Details for the NYC, Chicago, and LA deals are below:
Hey New Yorkers…more for your binge watch on the go thing? Living in a high-rise or brownstone doesn’t mean you have to settle for cable. In the city where you can get a milkshake at 3 a.m., we get why you want what you want when you want it. We’ll get you up and streaming live TV in no time with DIRECTV NOWSM for a year on us when you switch to either our new AT&T Unlimited Plus EnhancedSM or AT&T Unlimited Choice EnhancedSM plans.1 That means for 12 months new and existing qualifying DIRECTV NOW customers in New York City can enjoy 60+ channels of live TV, including your favorite local stations (WABC, WCBS, WNYW, WLBY, WWOR, WNBC, WNJU, Telemundo) on DIRECTV NOW’s “Live a Little” package for $0. Still want more? You can use your $35 monthly video credit on any DIRECTV NOW package.
Windy City… more for your deep dish online delivery thing? We offer a home internet connection to more locations in the Chicago area than nearly every other major metro. Naturally, FREE home internet for life for Chicagoans just makes sense. When you switch from any wireless competitor to our new AT&T Unlimited Plus Enhanced plan (min. $80/mo after discounts), as a new or existing AT&T home internet customer in Chicagoland you’ll get FREE home internet on plans up to 50Mbps for LIFE!2 Stream, share and download to your heart’s content. Want to go faster? You can apply a $30 monthly internet credit to any of the higher speed tiers available at your location.
Angelenos…more for your stay connected like a #boss thing? The only thing better than watching your favorite show or movie on-the-go is bringing a friend along for the ride. Purchase one of the latest smartphones, including the iPhone X 64GB, and you’ll get another one on us when you buy both on AT&T Next and add a new line with eligible wireless service. 3 Streaming separately while together has never been so nice!
