Months of waiting and listening to vague public remarks from AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega have led us to this moment. Finally we have confirmation that AT&T family data plans are coming soon — still vague, but something is better than nothing.
Such a plan would allow families already living in an all-smartphone world to grab their monthly data from one big pool. “I’m very comfortable with the plan that will be offered to our customers,” said de la Vega at an event during the CTIA Wireless trade show. That wasn’t the case just a few months ago. In January, de la Vega was far less confident. “It just takes a little more time than we all would want it to take. But sometimes it’s better to make sure you take your time and get it right,” he said.
AT&T’s biggest competitor, Verizon, is a step ahead. The carrier has been updating the public throughout 2012 on its progress developing shared data plans. Less than a month ago, it announced they will be available this summer. A screenshot leaked in March of a data usage calculator for families that could serve to let them figure out just how much they would need. The meter goes up to 30GB, which is potentially the cap Verizon is willing to reach.
There’s no word on when exactly AT&T’s shared data plans will launch or how much data the carrier will offer families. If summer qualifies as “soon,” we could see both AT&T and Verizon launch their plans in the coming months.
[via CNET]