att prepaid wireless: June 2013

LTE Smartphone Gets AT&T’s Prepaid GoPhone Service

Dallas – AT&T switched gears and will begin offering an LTE-equipped smartphone for use with its GoPhone repaid plans.
The announcement follows last month’s decision to allow people to add GoPhone service to an existing LTE phone or to an LTE phone that they buy at full price from AT&T.
Only 4G HSPA+21 service was available previously with GoPhone service. Only HSPA+21 is available with AT&T’s prepaid Aio Wireless brand, launched in May as a subsidiary. Aio service is available exclusively through Aio Wireless-branded stores operated by third parties and at Aio’s web site in a handful of markets to date.

The first LTE-equipped GoPhone is the Samsung Galaxy Express, available June 21 for $249 online, AT&T company-owned retail stores, and other GoPhone retailers.
The phone can be activated with one of the GoPhone prepaid plans for smartphones, including a $60/month plan with 2GB of data, unlimited nationwide calling, and unlimited messaging. Additional data is available for $10 per 1 GB. A $40/month plans allows for 200MB of data, 500 minutes of nationwide calling, and unlimited messaging. Additional data is available for $5 per 100MB. And a $25/month offers 250 minutes of nationwide calling, unlimited messaging, and an optional data package of 50MB for $5 a month. GoPhone smartphone users can also choose a $50 unlimited talk and text plan with Wi-Fi data only.

The Galaxy Express features Android Jelly Bean OS, 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, 5-megapixel rear facing camera with 720p 30 fps video recording, 1.3-megapixel front facing camera with VGA 15 fps video capture, 1GB RAM, 8GB embedded storage, and 32GB MicroSD card slot. It also features S Beam, which combines NFC with Wi-Fi Direct to enable sharing of large files such as videos with other S Beam-capable devices.
AT&T GoPhone plans are also available for quick messaging and basic phones with several plans. One $35/month plan offers 500 minutes of nationwide calling, unlimited data and unlimited messaging.

AT&T ditches prepaid GoPhone data options, will launch new plans soon

AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) is limiting the data options on its cheaper prepaid GoPhone plans. However, the carrier said it will launch new GoPhone plans in the next few weeks, according to a CNET report. AT&T did not provide prices for the new plans, saying only that there would be a "variety of plans."
Currently, AT&T's $65 prepaid GoPhone plan comes with unlimited voice, texting and 1 GB of data, and is available for smartphones. The carrier's $50 plan includes unlimited voice, texting and data, but is only available on feature phones. AT&T's $25 monthly plan comes with 250 voice minutes and unlimited texting. As add-ons, AT&T charges $25 for 1 GB, $15 for 200 MB and $5 for 50 MB.
Under the new changes, the $25 plan will only be able to access the $5/50 MB data add-on, and the $50 plan will not be able to access any of the add-ons. The $65 plan will remain unchanged.

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Sign up for our FREE newsletter for more news like this sent to your inbox! "We're making some changes to our AT&T GoPhone prepaid plans to simplify our offers and better align with what customers are choosing and telling us they want," the company said in a statement to CNET. "We've begun letting customers know about the changes in advance, and we'll have more information on new, additional plan options soon."
The changes come shortly after AT&T added HSPA+ and LTE data support to GoPhone customers who use devices capable of accessing those networks. Presumably, that will lead to speedier data service, and more data consumption, which is why AT&T may be gravitating toward the data-heavy $65 plan option.
Separately, AT&T last month launched its new "Aio Wireless" prepaid brand, which runs on the company's HSPA+ network. The Aio brand also supports a wider range of devices than AT&T's GoPhone option, including the Nokia (NYSE:NOK) Lumia 620 for $179.99, Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 5 for $649.99, the Samsung Galaxy Express for $249.99, the Samsung Galaxy Amp for $99.99 and the ZTE Prelude for $49.99. Aio also offers a handful of feature phones.
Other carriers continue to be aggressive in the prepaid market. Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ recently increased the amount of data available to prepaid customers on its 3G network in a bid to drive prepaid 3G data sales. On its existing $60 per month prepaid plan, which includes unlimited calling and texting, Verizon increased the data allotment from 500 MB to 2 GB. On its $70 plan, Verizon raised its data allotment to 4 GB per month, up from 2 GB previously.
Further, T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) is working to promote its new "uncarrier" service that includes unlimited voice and texting and 2.5 GB of high-speed data for $60 per month. Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) continues to support a range of prepaid plans through its Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile brands, and Sprint just announced that Boost will launch the Samsung Galaxy S III, which can run on Sprint's LTE network, for $399.99 without a contract.
The carriers are clearly seeing the need to play more toward data-focused consumers in the prepaid market. Nearly one-third of U.S smartphone sales in the first quarter were on prepaid carriers, the highest on record, according to a report from the NPD Group. According to NPD, prepaid smartphone unit sales doubled year-over-year in the first quarter, representing 32 percent of total smartphone sales, which is an 11 point increase year-over-year and a 10 point increase from the record-high share of 22 percent reached in the fourth quarter of 2012.

AT&T GoPhone prepaid plans set to change on June 20

AT&T recently announced some changes for GoPhone users and it looks like some additional changes will be coming later in the month. The previous change added support for HSPA+ and LTE network connectivity (provided the user has a compatible handset) and this latest will be switching up the available plans. AT&T has yet to reveal all the specifics, however they have said the GoPhone plans will be changing on June 20th.

The carrier has said they will be dropping some of the lower priced plans and that in the end, there will be a “variety of plans” available for users to choose from. In a statement provided to CNET, AT&T has said they are doing this to simplify the options and also to eliminate some of the lesser used options.

“We’re making some changes to our AT&T GoPhone prepaid plans to simplify our offers and better align with what customers are choosing and telling us they want,”

At present the AT&T GoPhone options include a $25 per month plan along with a $50 and $65 per month plan. The bottom-tier plan includes 250 minutes for calling and unlimited messaging. Users then have the option to add data for an additional cost. The $50 plan includes unlimited talk along with the unlimited messaging. This plan also requires the data to be added on at an additional cost. The one plan that does include data is the top-tier which has 1GB of data along with unlimited talk and messaging.
We still need the official word from AT&T, however it seems reasonable the carrier may be shifting these plans to have more a focus on data. Or at the very least, to include data with all plans across the board. Of course, June 20th will bring the answer though. In the meantime, AT&T also rolled-out Aio Wireless, which is another prepaid service.
The Aio Wireless service has several plans and several smartphones and tablets available, however at the moment it is only available in a limited few markets. At present Aio Wireless is available for those in Houston, Orlando and Tampa. The Aio Wireless plans range in price from as low as $35 per month and as high as $70 per month.