You need to pay for a year of service that you’ll use one month at a time
Having to shop around for a new wireless carrier plan these days? We don’t envy you. If you’re looking at what the Big Three have to offer, you’re going to find plenty of mentions of the word “unlimited” and bundled-in streaming services that you may or may not want, especially when you consider the asking prices for some of these plans. But the iceberg spans wide and deep and this promo from AT&T’s own-brand prepaid division should give you some pause, especially if you can afford your cell service on an annual basis.
Prior to this week, AT&T Prepaid offered a 360-day plan that included unlimited talk and text as well as 8GB of high-speed data for $300 up front — that works out to $25 a month, give or take. The carrier, however, is now doubling the monthly high-speed data allotment to 16GB for the same price.
For context, Ryan Reynolds-owned MVNO Mint Mobile, which solely sells long-term consumer service plans and, incidentally, uses T-Mobile’s network, also offers a 12-month plan for $300 with much the same terms as AT&T Prepaid provides for, but with a monthly high-speed allotment of 15GB.
Of course, there’s always fine print to point out. For starters, the monthly cycles aren’t calendar-based, but run every 30 days, so you’re getting 360 days of service with this package. Any unused data from the previous cycle is rolled over for one cycle (meaning you can’t have more than 16GB of rollover data in any given cycle). Mobile hotspot and the ability to stream video at up to 1080p are available, but those activities draw from the high-speed allotment. Once the high-speed data for a given cycle is used, customers will be throttled down to 128kbps until the next one begins — top-up passes are available for $10 (1GB) or $20 (3GB). Talk, text, and data are allowed when roaming in Mexico and Canada, but throughput is capped at 128kbps. And, yes, if you’re bringing your own phone, you’ll need to make sure it’s compatible with AT&T’s network.
It’s a fairly convincing package if you’re rolling on your own and don’t want to be bothered with a monthly bill, though we do have other options to think about in our guide to the best value smartphone data plans in the U.S.
Another point of comparison: AT&T Prepaid has a 8GB, 3-month plan at $99 while Mint does 10GB for 3 months at $105 — $33 versus $35 per month, respectively.
