AT&T hints at family/data sharing plans on the horizon

Élyse Betters | May 8 2012 - 7:32 am PT

AT&T’s variant of the family data plan is on the horizon.

The company’s CEO of Mobile Business Ralph de la Vega told CNET on the sidelines of the CTIA Wireless trade show that the upcoming shared plan would allow consumers to buy one package of data to split among multiple devices, which is a forward-thinking step that could encourage tablet sales.

“I’m very comfortable with the plan that will be offered to our customers,” revealed de la Vega.

Just a few months ago, the executive seemed to doubt family plans due to IT, billing, and device subsidization issues. He even remarked his goal to “get it right”— instead of unveiling the strategy prematurely.

It appears de la Vega might finally have a change to get it right, because he claims to know how the family plan would be arranged; although, he refused to give additional details on timing or whether the company intends to be ahead of Verizon Wireless’ anticpated mid-year family plan rollout.

AT&T was one of the first carriers to introduce new ways of doling data. It first introduced a tiered data plan after thirsty consumers continued to bleed the data pipeline dry, and it applied caps on usage, and introduced throttling—the practice of slowing a connection once it brinks.

AT&T and Verizon are competing to launch the first family data plan for United States consumers, and while either outcome is not particularly ideal for the carriers, both situations are a light at the end of the tunnel for data-sucking iOS users.

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