[NewsPoster]

AT&T will stop offering its traditional voice and data plans to new subscribers on October 25th, the carrier has announced. The one exception is an individual $40 plan, which includes 450 minutes but no bundled texts or data. Every other new subscriber will have to adopt one of the carrier's Mobile Share plans, which put multiple devices on the same data pool with fees for adding new ones.

Existing subscribers will be able to keep their current plans. AT&T is in fact promising that those people will be able to upgrade phones, activate new lines, and switch between tiers without being forced into Mobile Share.

The change is said to be based on the popularity of Mobile Share versus older plans. AT&T's main rival -- Verizon -- abandoned traditional voice/data plans at the same time it launched shared data tiers.

[myramoki]

Last time I tried to get a real answer from AT&T on how much it would cost me to switch to their Mobile Share plan, the answer was so far from being concrete, that it might as well have just been a puffy cloud. The could tell me how much the basic stuff would cost, but no details on taxes and fees and hidden fees that always seem to get mysteriously tacked on and significantly increasing ones bill.

And I wonder how truly popular the plan is, or how much people are just defaulting to using this one. Just give me a simple plan of X amount of date & talk on whatever devices you have. No extra stupid fees for whether I have a phone, tablet, or computer. Or at most a one-time setup fee to add those devices to your plan. I almost never use my table on cellular network, but on the 2-3 times a month I do, why can't I just switch it on and use it? Why do I need to pay a monthly fee for the tablet that gives me nothing but the ability to connect? Oh right, because its the cellular company, and their motto is most definitely "Be Evil".

[The Vicar]

Translation: "We've confirmed that we can provide less service at a higher cost under our 'Mobile Share' plans. Now that we're certain of this, we're dropping the other plans."

It's funny -- right-wingers (who make up most of the U.S., since both the Democrats and the Republicans are right-wing by any external standard) always talk about how it's okay for companies to try to maximize profits, but nobody is ever honest about it; you never hear "we can make more money doing it this way and we believe more people will put up with the hassle than will seek an alternative" even though that's the truth behind 99% of corporate changes.

[coffeetime]

I am currently having single data plan for me and my wife. I did asked for the share plan months ago and price wise it makes no sense. It's actually cost more for the share plan. These corporate executives are sick. Every new plan they come out with end up costing consumer more money. The word "Share Plan" is a marketing gimmick for putting more money in their pocket (those stupid bonus for the greedy executives).

[aristotles]

Crazy. Those AT&T plans are now more expensive than Canadian plans.

I have plan with 6GB of sharable data, Unlimited nationwide minutes, Unlimited nationwide text, picture, and video messages, Call Display and Message Centre Lite, Call Waiting and Conference Calling, Mobile TV and Unlimited access to carrier run wifi hotspots.

I added my iPad 3 for 10 bucks and the plan is much cheaper than what I saw on the AT&T site for an equivalent term length with similar features and data.