What is the average monthly bill for AT&T?
What is the average monthly bill for AT&T
AT&T is a big American telecommunications company that provides mobile phone, internet, and television services to a vast number of customers in the United States. Since there are different plans in AT&T and also additional services, it may be that the bills are high or low depending on the customer. However if aggregated, the monthly cost of services by users of AT&T averages between $50 to $150 on average.
The main factors that influence your AT&T monthly bill include:
- Which services do you need – AT&T provides mobile phone services, home phone service broadband internet service, and television/video services. One can achieve a substantial amount of cost reduction by acquiring services in a package.
- Data usage – Additional charges for data exceeding the package price of a mobile phone service is another common tariff. The same is true with home internet data usage. This is very important because data usage is usually bundled with a certain amount of usage and going over that amount attracts extra charges.
- Device payment – In case you buy a new phone or device from AT&T with an installment plan, then there is a monthly charge on top of service costs until you get the device at a reasonable price. These device payments are usually standardized and may cost as low as $10 or as high as $40 per month.
- Number of lines - This is very clear and understandable that families or groups, that obtained multiple lines within the same account, will have higher total bills than just one line. However, AT&T has provided some significant relief by providing the multi-line plans which makes the pricing per line relatively cheaper.
- International features – Incorporating calling, texting, or data features that are internationally based will be charged on the increased monthly cost of AT&T. Such expenses are not compulsory if you do not require them often.
- Other features and add-ons: This adds items such as an AT&T TV package, access to connected cars, protection plans, and other features that may add more monthly fees to the bill. If you are to use an application you should only opt in and sign up if the value is proportional to the cost you are willing to pay for it.
The lower end of the scale is an individual AT&T customer with a single smartphone line that uses the single-line unlimited data plan; such a customer should expect to pay around $50-75 per month inclusive of taxes and other charges. On the other end of the spectrum, with several devices that are connected to an unlimited data plan, AT&T fiber home internet, and a premium TV, the overall price tag could be close to $400 or even more.
Presently, the average customer of AT&T’s wireless service pays around $85-100 per month to subscribe to a postpaid plan that allows for unlimited data usage as stated by industry specialists. The existing wireless and home Internet subscription rates to packages now cost an average monthly bill of around one hundred and twenty-five US dollars per household. Of course, how much you truly use and the plans you have chosen will dictate where your specific monthly amount resides within these ranges. Therefore, it is important to keep track of the monthly charges and make changes or adjustments in usage or plans from time to time to control AT&T expenses.
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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