AT&T has announced in a press release today that the upcoming release of its new ‘Mobile Hotspot Application’, which allows users to share a handset’s 3G data connection, will see data allowance for smartphones increase from 2GB to 4GB per month at no extra charge.
The service is set to go live on February 13th and will be available to “select smartphone customers,” starting with the HTC Inspire HD. Unfortunately, iPhone users aren’t within those select customers, and there was no mention of the iPhone 4 or its new iOS 4.3 Personal Hotspot feature in AT&T’s press release. However, they will still benefit from the increased allowance on their data plan:
In addition, also on February 13th, to bring AT&T’s smartphone tethering plan in line with the AT&T Mobile Hotspot offer, AT&T will automatically add the additional 2GB of monthly data usage to smartphone customers already on a tethering plan – at no extra charge. Customers will incur the same $20 monthly fee they’re accustomed to paying, only now they’ll receive an extra 2GB of data each month.
There are currently two data plans available from AT&T, with prices starting at $15 per month for the 200MB DataPlus plan, increasing to $25 per month for 2GB (soon to be 4GB) on the DataPro plan. Tethering is available to customers on the DataPro plan only at an additional $20 per month. The carrier will continue to charge $10 per gigabyte to customers who creep over their monthly data cap.
The news that the iPhone 4 has been left out in the cold on this one is a surprise, with many expecting the carrier to do all it can to compete with Verizon, who will support the device’s Personal Hotspot feature when it launches on the network on February 10th.
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TAGS: personal hotspot, tethering, Verizon
