NEW YORK — AT&T is joining Verizon in raising the prices of some of its data plans.
As with Verizon, AT&T is going to great lengths to avoid calling the changes a price hike, as the higher prices come with more data, reducing the cost per gigabyte for many customers. Many customers will benefit, and those who won’t can keep their existing plans.
The price increase underscores how wireless companies see data as a way to boost revenue. Most plans now come with unlimited calls and texts.
The new rates take effect Sunday. AT&T customers who want to keep their existing plans don’t need to do anything. They can still add lines to their account, but won’t be able to change data levels without switching to the new rates.
AT&T’s efforts to simplify its plans include standardizing the “access charge” that customers pay on top of data charges. That’s the voice and text portion of the monthly service bill. Now, customers will pay $20 a month per line, which wireless companies are phasing out. Before, the access charge was $25 for smaller data plans and $15 for larger ones.
Customers on larger data plans will now pay more for access, but will get comparable or greater reductions in the data rates. In fact, families on plans of 20 gigabytes or more will likely see signification reductions in their phone bills.
Those on smaller data plans will pay $10 a month more for data, with a $5-per-line reduction in the access charge. That’s a net increase of $5, though those prices come with 20 percent more data.
