AT&T Raises Data Prices for New Smartphone Customers

AT&T, the wireless carrier, will raise the cost of Internet data for new smartphone customers beginning Sunday. Though AT&T’s overall prices have increased, the new plans give customers more value per megabyte.

People who buy a smartphone and sign a new AT&T contract on or after Sunday will have the option to pay $20 for 300 megabytes of data, $30 for three gigabytes or $50 for five GB.

That’s higher than the minimum you could pay with the previous price options, which were $15 for 200 MB or $25 for two GB.

AT&T’s new pricing brings it more into line with Verizon, which charges smartphone customers $30 for two GB, $50 for five GB or $80 for 10 GB.

The new AT&T plan turns out to be a slightly better deal than the older one. With the 300-MB plan at $20, for example, customers will pay 6.7 cents a MB, whereas with the older 200-megabyte plan at $15, customers pay 7.5 cents a MB.

Current AT&T customers have the option to stay on their older price plan or to sign up for one of the newer ones.

In a statement, AT&T said it had revised its plans because “customers are using data more than ever before,” and demands for data are increasing.

Ross Rubin, executive director of the Connected Intelligence unit at the NPD Group, a research firm, said smartphone data usage was increasing because of the popularity of new video-streaming apps and Siri, Apple’s voice-controlled assistant on the new iPhone 4S.