What does AT&T charge for a landline?
The article brings up a question which is What Does AT&T Charge for a Landline?
The telecommunications giant ATT has tens of millions of people as its customers for basic plain old telephone service or POTS. Plain old telephone services also known as landlines are probably the oldest telephone services that are still in use for home phone connections.
However, the modern and increasingly mobile customer base uses fixed-line or traditional wired telephones to a lesser extent. According to the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey, a preliminary estimate shows that only 37.5% of American homes had a landline in 2019, down from 91.9% in 2004. However, landlines are still useful for some clients due to the availability of unlimited local and long-distance call services, access to 911, phone lines that work during power outages, and the services where phone, TV, and Internet are provided by one company.
Thus, the question arises of the cost of home telephone internet service in the year 2023, according to AT&T? AT&T has discontinued offering plans based solely on the traditional wire-line services. However, it offers home phone services as an option to the broadband plan with which it is bundled. Currently, AT&T home phone services can be availed either by signing up for a contract or through month to monthly basis, and the rates depend on the area you are located in.
Comprising the combination of Phone and Internet deals
For users that require both a home web connection as well a telephone connection, AT&T offers package deals. For the basic package of the services offered, the consumer is charged $55 per month for up to 300 Mbps with the package going with 12 months’ warranty plus taxes, equipment, activation, and other charges. Their premium package, which offers 1000 Mbps internet service and nationwide unlimited calling, costs $120 monthly. It is worth mentioning the fact that the majority of AT&T internet offers contain unlimited local and domestic distance home phone calling within the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Some packages are also provided with cheaper prices if users also subscribe to either AT&T TV or wireless service. As mentioned above, your AT&T home internet and phone monthly charges may vary from $55 for internet basic plans up to $180 or higher if you want gigabit speeds and additional channel packages.
Key factors that determine your exact AT&T landline costs include: Key factors that determine your exact AT&T landline costs include:
- Your location – there are differences in prices depending on the region you live in
- Internet speeds selected
- Pairing with mobile, and TV deals
- The duration of the contract, and availability of promotional offers.
- Taxes, fees, and equipment costs
Standalone Landline Costs
As for single-line service of home telephones, they are no longer sold, but some of the customers still may have this service. Here, you will be charged a flat amount for maintaining the phone line with additional charges for the calls made and/or any features desired. For instance, AT&T’s home phone service, which is a bare-boned service, costs $40 per month. Extra charges for calling from one region to the other, caller identification, voice mail, and taxes may cost between $15-$30 more per month.
So, an AT&T Internet residential landline with the minimum features and services could cost between $55-$70 per month. Additional features such as unlimited nationwide calling add $10 to the monthly costs, making it $60. Other features such as conference calling, call forwarding, or even the ability to block certain numbers are available but come at a fee.
The advantages and disadvantages of AT&T landlines
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Some key advantages of choosing AT&T for your home phone service include: Some key advantages of choosing AT&T for your home phone service include:
- Combining different offers such as internet and TV services and giving them at a cheaper price.
- The flexibility that comes with calling options is another area that has no limits.
- Better service provision during blackouts
- Availability of the emergency dialing, namely 911.
- Global service accessibility and customer support from the USA
Downsides to consider before signing up for an AT&T home phone line: Downsides to consider before signing up for an AT&T home phone line:
- There are no plans now allowing a separate landline without an internet connection.
- In this way, the monthly fees do not include any taxes, as well as any equipment necessary for the internet service.
- Additional services offered include local and long-distance calls and these attract additional charges.
- Less usage advantages than the cell phone plans
If you are willing to sign up for home phone service from AT&T, make sure to investigate all the charges like activation fees, equipment lease charges, per-minute long-distance calling charges, universal service fees, and government taxes, and surcharges that may increase the monthly bill by $10-$20. All the offered packages of high-speed internet and telephone services provided by AT&T also come with a 12-month contract or longer.
Hence, in conclusion, there are no more offerings of the different services in the form of landlines as individual products. Phone and internet services are usually sold together and cost at least $55 monthly, plus equipment, and extra calling if necessary. For MOT standalone landline-only customers, you are looking at $60-70 monthly through AT&T with all taxes included. The best way to compare your home phone rates is to check them by the levels of other top home phone providers such as Verizon or CenturyLink.
Does AT&T currently offer a $45 unlimited plan?
Apart from AT&T Internet, which offers wireless communications services in the United States, other important participants in the industry include Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint. Many customers want to know if the business offers a package with unlimited data for less than $45 per thirty days. The present offerings of AT&T in terms of unlimited data plans and related expenses will be discussed in this paper.
What Does it Mean to Have an Unlimited Data Plan?
An example of a data plan that comes with a cellphone carrier offers a user unlimited data usage every month without the company imposing any restrictions on the rate at which the data is used once the agreed limit is achieved. This would enable customers to surf the internet, watch videos listen to music, and install applications in the absence of a limited bundle of data allowance.
Unlimited plans were initially introduced a few years back when some carriers like T-Mobile offered them to outcompete rivals. Originally there were many pure unlimited plans, but many big carriers moved away from them and now offer limited volumes of data with a set price. Earlier, the concept of unlimited plans was not popular owing to competitive forces and pressures but they have come back again in the market recently.
AT&T Unlimited Data Plans
AT&T currently offers the following unlimited data plans: AT&T currently offers the following unlimited data plans:
AT&T Unlimited Starter: $65/month
AT&T Unlimited Extra: $75/month
AT&T Unlimited Elite: $85/month
Even at the basic level or Starter plan, one gets to enjoy unlimited talk, text, and data. Nevertheless, the streaming of videos is limited to standard definition only. The Extra plan enhances the quality of streaming videos to high definition and the Elite plan comes with 5G data speeds and offers HBO Max as well. Those extra lines on these plans are $35-$40 per month each.
You have to understand that although these plans are labeled as ‘unlimited’ by AT&T, they do have the ability to throttle data speeds in case of network congestion, plus once the customer has used up a certain amount of data allowance per month. This amount is generally 50GB per line for the month with the provision that depending on the congestion of the tower to which a user is connected, the internet speeds may be throttled. Thus, despite considerable liberalization, there are still some restrictions in place, albeit of a technical nature.
In conclusion, AT&T’s most affordable promotional unlimited plan is $65/month for the first line and $35 for a subsequent line. This is way above the $45 unlimited plan that some customers may be looking forward to, which can be regarded as a myth.
How about Prepaid or Discount plans?
However, it is worth mentioning that AT&T does have cheaper unlimited data plans for prepaid customers through their Cricket Wireless division. Cricket has an unlimited everything plan for $55 per month where you get unlimited talk, text, and data. Nonetheless, speeds offered with these prepaid plans are throttled down to 8Mbps and videos are limited to 480p.
Customers can also shave off some cash through various AT&T discounts that include employer discounts or student discounts, bundle wireless with internet or TV internet service. Families in particular can save more per line by extending the number of lines to be subscribed. However, even after normal reductions were made, major operators such as AT&T did not have similar unlimited plans for as low as $45 per line per month.
The Bottom Line
Indeed, AT&T does provide unlimited data, though its cheapest widely advertised unlimited plan costs $65 for one line only. Customers expecting a $45 per month with unlimited data, there’s no good news for them they would have to look for prepaid carriers, multiple lines or bundles with AT&T, or look for ways to avail many offer codes at once.
The main communication giants spend billions of dollars on their network expansions and wireless spectrum purchases. To offset those investments maintain the quality of the network, and make money, the unlimited plans that are sought after are way more expensive than any budget offering. At the moment, choices such as an unlimited high-speed data single-line plan for under $50 a month from AT&T are still few and far between for most customers. While you are looking for the cheapest unlimited data, you will have to compromise your preferences or opt for prepaid, MVNO, or Wi-Fi service.
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