New AT&T data plans for iPhones, iPads, smartphones

From CNET News.com: AT&T announced on Wednesday a new set of data plans, available June 7th, for smartphones and tablets (read: iPads) that come cheaper than current plans. Though the changes might leave some users scratching their heads, we see more to like than dislike. Such as iPhone tethering.

According to AT&T, tethering for the iPhone will be made available with the new data plans as soon as Apple releases iPhone OS 4 this summer. Tethering will cost an extra $20 and won't work with existing iPhone data plans, but rather will have to be added on to the new, lower-priced plans.

The main difference between the new plans and the old is that the word "unlimited" is now gone, which at first sounds like bad news. But the unlimited plans, like many other broadband plans, had murky, inscrutable limits. There are stories of users charged for going over a certain amount of data without knowing what that limit was, which doesn't make the "unlimited" plans unlimited. To curb this, the just-announced plans give a new declared limit on how much data one gets for the money, fairly inexpensive options for those who go over, as well as tools for keeping tabs on where data usage stands.

The pair of plans work with any smartphone AT&T sells, including the iPhone. The low-end plan, DataPlus, includes 200MB of data for $15 a month. If the 200MBs are exceeded, another 200 are added on for another $15. This keeps going as much as used.

The high-end plan, DataPro, includes 2GB of data--ten times more than DataPlus--for $25. When the 2GB threshold is reached, another 1GB can be tacked on for $10. Each 1GB after that is $10, as much as is used. That's far better than the old overage rate of $100 per GB, or 10 cents per MB.

New iPad customers, who buy an iPad 3G after June 7th, can get the same $25 per month 2GB plan as iPhone users. Unlike iPhone users, iPad customers will still prepay for their wireless data plan with no contract. Existing iPad customers who have the $29.99 per month unlimited plan can keep that plan or switch to the new $25 per month plan with 2GB of data.

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