Today AT&T laid out a brand new pricing scheme for their data plans.  Let’s jump right into the deets, shall we?  New AT&T subscribers will be offered two options for a data plan: DataPlus and DataPro.

*DataPlus. Provides 200 megabytes (MB) of data – enough to send/receive 1,000 emails (no attachments), send/receive 150 emails with attachments, view 400 Web pages, post 50 photos on social media sites and 20 minutes of streaming video – for just $15 per month. This plan, which can save customers up to 20 percent off their wireless voice and data charges, is designed for people who primarily like to surf the web, send email and use social networking apps. If customers exceed 200 MB in a monthly billing cycle, they will receive an additional 200 MB of data usage for $15 for use in the month.

* DataPro. Provides 2 gigabytes (GB) of data – enough to send/receive 10,000 emails (no attachments), send/receive 1,500 emails with attachments, view 4,000 Web pages, post 500 photos to social media sites and watch 200 minutes of streaming video – for $25 per month. Should a customer exceed 2 GB during a billing cycle, they will receive an additional 1 GB of data for $10 for use in the month.

That’s right, people–it’s the beginning of the end for data plans complete with “unlimited data.”  President and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets Ralph de la Vega on the change: “To give more people the opportunity to experience these benefits, we’re breaking free from the traditional ‘one-size-fits-all’ pricing model and making the mobile Internet more affordable to a greater number of people.”  And you know what?  Unless you’re part of a small bracket of people, these changes will save you money every month.  According to AT&T, “65 percent of AT&T smartphone customers use less than 200 MB of data per month on average,” and “98 percent of AT&T smartphone customers use less than 2 GB of data a month on average.”  Much to my surprise I use less than 200 MB of data per month, so I am looking forward to saving $5 on my cell phone bill.  I guess constantly checking my Twitter and Facebook feeds plus surfing on Safari every now and then does not eat up thatmuch data; and I am sure I work on a WiFi network more often than I think.  And I’d bet you’re in the same bracket, too.  To find out how much data you use on a monthly basis, log on to your AT&T Wireless Account web page or download the AT&T myWireless Mobile app to access a chart of your usage.  For those of you who tether (or who have been waiting to tether your iPhone) to access the Internet on your laptop via your cell phone and are heavy data users, this move away from “unlimited data” may invoke some anger.  Speaking of tethering… Continue reading AT&T intros new data plans, iPhone tethering coming this summer →