AT&T (NYSE:T) has announced that the company is slowly getting rid of overage fees.
Previously, the carrier would charge you extra for going over your cell phone’s monthly data limits. Customers paid an additional $15 for every gigabyte of data they used over the allotted amount.
Instead of charging extra once you reach your limit, AT&T will slow down your connection speed to 128kpbs. The company has also updated its monthly data plans, now offering seven plans with revised prices.
The plans vary from 1GB a month for $30 — which used to offer 2GB for the same price — to 30GB for $135. Its popular 15GB offering for $100 is cheaper now at $90, which one additional gigabyte to boot.
The perks of each plan remain the same, including unlimited talk and text, unused data rolling over from one month to another, and unlimited texting to more than 120 countries. Additionally, free roaming in Mexico has been added to plans above the 10GB-mark.
Meanwhile, rival Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) recently announced a new feature called Safety Mode that prevents customers from going over their monthly limit by slowing down the cell phone’s data speed.
AT&T has a market cap of $265 billion, as well as an impressive dividend yield of 4.5%. This figure is more than twice as large as the S&P 500 market average of 2.0%.
T shares are down 0.2% Wednesday, but the stock has enjoyed a steady climb throughout most of the year, garnering a 21.7% surge YTD.
