How much data is AT&T unlimited?
AT&T has multiple unlimited data plans, but here are the basic options. But figuring out exactly how many gigabytes you’re going to be able to use under any of these plans, it’s not very easy.
Through its unlimited data plans, this article helps the reader to understand the product offering of AT&T Internet Wireless Communications Company on its wireless telecommunications service.
As of the early part of 2023, AT&T provides its customers with three types of unlimited data plans for smartphones:
- Unlimited Starter: Fifty-five to sixty-five dollars per month for a single line is not unusual. This entails a package that has free calls, messages, and even internet usage. Mobile hotspot not included. Hulu does not allow for HD/Blu-Ray quality video streaming; instead, the best quality is SD/DVD quality or around 480p.
- Unlimited Extra: You get charged $75/month for a single line. This may refer to many things with talk, text as well as data with no restrictions. The targeted models also come with up to 50GB of mobile hotspot data. Video streaming options are limited to high definition (HD) resolution, which is approximately 720p.
- Unlimited Elite: Business customers are being charged $85/month on average for one line. It means getting as much talk, text, and data as one can handle. Additional features: up to 100 GB of mobile hotspot data available. Video streaming only goes up to High Definition (approximately 1080p).
These plans also facilitate 5G data access alongside the above plans.
The Unlimited Caveats
You must be aware that AT&T’s term ‘unlimited’ is not fully an unlimited data plan. Each of the provided unlimited plans is governed by what AT&T refers to as ‘’network management.’’
In layman's terms, this means that if you consume a lot of data within the billing cycle, your data rates will be throttled during the cycle in areas where the network is most congested by AT&T. This is done selectively during peak traffic times, and does not cover calls or text in any way.
We could not identify the specific quantity of data usage that AT&T considers ‘high’ and thus subject to throttling. Most consumers claim they are using more than 100 GB per month for the smooth running of their activities. Nevertheless, the nature and frequency at which networks are used probably affect throttling as much as the amount of data that is consumed. Watching 1080p videos throughout the day or using your phone to hot-spot data for other devices will more likely come across throttled data speeds than basic internet usage such as browsing through Facebook and using Apple Music.
Moreover, unlimited plans are not for the device used for purposes of the smartphone alone but on the device itself. Some of the higher-tier unlimited plans also include data limits when you use your phone to tether or share internet access with other devices. The unlimited Starter plan does not encompass this feature at all for mobile hotspot usage.
Unlimited Data Clarifications
AT&T tries to clarify things a bit with additional fine print details on their unlimited plans: AT&T tries to clarify things a bit with additional fine print details on their unlimited plans:
- Video Streaming: You can watch videos only at a certain quality stream depending on the type of package you have subscribed to. However, it does not affect the overall data plan that you have subscribed to in any way. This means that even if you are on the Unlimited Starter plan, streaming high-definition 1080p video will consume more total data than, say, 480p though the per-second data consumption is similar.
- 5G and 5G+ Access: All plans also give the customer access to AT&T’s 5G or 5G+ when the services are available. But, according to AT&T, they may throttle 5G when congestion occurs or during high network traffic. But, probably, this would only affect the highest bandwidth forms of 5G though.
- Roaming Data: Roaming charges are not charged whenever one is using unlimited data in Canada and Mexico. However, after you reach this limit, your roaming might get completely terminated (even if you have more gigabytes in the plan, the maximum is 50% of your plan data or 5 GB). It is important to know that other international roaming is not thus not unlimited.
- DirectTV Data Free Streaming: In its higher tier packages known as the Unlimited Extra and the Unlimited Elite, the company offers streaming of video content in DirecTV without considering it in the data usage.
calculator tells that the content above is about 984 words and this is what the estimator has to estimate. Here we go, that is the rundown of the three tiers of the “unlimited” data plans and some of the most important things: the details about the video throttling, the limitations on mobile hotspots, and a few other things that you need to know, according to AT&T’s terms and conditions. If you have any suggestions, I would appreciate it if you could inform me if you want the information to be more detailed or the information to be changed in a particular way.
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