AT&T Unveils Much-Anticipated Shared Data Plan

There's good news for AT&T customers who have a smartphone and a tablet: you can now get service for both devices with a single plan, and draw from a shared pool of minutes.

The "Mobile Share" plan includes unlimited voice calls and texting, as well as tethering. The monthly price increases by how many devices are part of the plan, and how much data is being shared between them.

There must be at least one smartphone included in the plan. The price for this varies by how much data is included, as shown below. Adding a tablet adds $10, a laptop, a mobile hotspot or laptop is $20, and a basic phone is $30.

The price for data starts at 1GB of monthly transfers for $40 and goes up to $200 for 20GB. What's likely to be the most popular option, 4GB of data, costs $70. 

AT&T versus Verizon

Unlike Verizon's Share Everything plan, which launched last month, Mobile Share is just one option being offered customers. AT&T is still offering its service plans designed for single devices while Verizon phased out all of its other plans.

For comparison, on either Verizon or AT&T, a shared data plan that includes a smartphone and a tablet with 4GB of data transfers costs $120 a month.

Mobile Share will launch at some point in August. AT&T customers who want to change to a Mobile Share plan can do so without a contract extension.

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