It's not much of a surprise, especially now that rival Verizon Wireless has already introduced their own service, but AT&T has finally made good on its promise to introduce shared data plans -- and won't be forcing current customers to use them if they don't want to.
AT&T announced on Wednesday the introduction of AT&T Mobile Share, a service which allows new and existing customers to "share a single bucket of data across smartphones, tablets and other compatible devices," all while enjoying unlimited talk and text.
If that sounds familiar, it's because competitor Verizon Wireless already beat Ma Bell to the punch by introducing their own version of this scenario, which ultimately wound up being kind of a ripoff for many customers.
AT&T Mobile Share is available for both individual or family plans and the carrier is not requiring users to switch to the new plans, but should they choose to, it will not extend their existing contract. The same will apply to customers to are eligible for device upgrades, and business customers can also enjoy data sharing plans as well.
"We offer customers a broad choice and the best lineup of plans, now enhanced by Mobile Share," said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility. "With these new plans, the more you share, the more you save. They'll be a good fit for a variety of new and existing customers. But if customers want to stay on their current plan or choose from our existing plans, they can do that, too. It's their choice."
Like Verizon, AT&T Mobile Share plans include tethering (aka Personal Hotspot) as well as unlimited domestic calls and text messages for both smartphones as well as basic phones.
AT&T has provided a handy chart which demonstrates how Mobile Share might benefit its customers. Smartphone users can save by increasing the size of the data pool, coming in as low as $30 per month on top of 10GB of data; laptop data cards are $20, while tablets can be added for $10 per month.
AT&T Mobile Share will be available in late August and also includes access to the company's more than 30,000 Wi-Fi Hot Spots across the U.S.
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