Everything you need to know about the AT&T Unlimited plan
A complete breakdown of the AT&T Unlimited plan so you know exactly what you get if you switch.

In the United States, there are a lot of companies that can get you and your phone online, though it's becoming harder and harder to buy quality Windows phone from them. Most people use one of the four biggest carriers: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. Choosing between them can be difficult. Your first priority should be what service works best in the places you spend your time. It's not worth saving $10 a month if the service is bad. Once you have that sorted, you can look at what each company has to offer and the prices they charge for it.
More: Which unlimited plan should you buy?
Let's take a look at the AT&T Unlimited plan to see what they can give you and what it will cost.
Note: The details of this plan are current as of February 27, 2017.
AT&T Unlimited plan details
Unlimited Plus
- Unlimited talk, text, and data
- 10 GB mobile hotspot (tethering)
- Unlimited talk and text to Canada and Mexico
- Advanced messaging between compatible phones on the AT&T network
- Unlimited talk, text, and data in Canada and Mexico with free Roam North America Feature (if more than 50% of use is outside the U.S. the plan can be terminated)
- Unlimited music and video streaming with optional Stream Saver for less data use
- $25 monthly credit for DirecTV services
Unlimited Choice
- Unlimited talk, text, and data
- Data speeds capped at 3Mbps
- Standard definition video streaming
AT&T's definition of Unlimited Data means that after you use 22 GB in a single month, your service can be slowed down if you're in a congested area. You'll hear the word throttled used here but you need to know that it's only a temporary deprioritization of your data connection when you're in a busy area. It may not happen at all depending on how many other customers are using the same towers.
Advanced Messaging features are only between two capable phones using the AT&T network in standard domestic coverage areas. A limit of 10MB is applied for any attachments. Standard text messaging has a 1MB limit for attachments.
Users who activate the free Roam North America feature need to use their phone in the domestic coverage area (U.S, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin islands) the majority of the time. If 50% or more of your use in a billing period is outside of domestic coverage, your service can be terminated.
AT&T makes it clear up-front about what devices are eligible and exactly how you can use the service. Clarity is great and we appreciate it.
You can use any phone that's compatible with AT&T's network. If you bring your own phone you'll pay a $25 one-time activation fee which is added to your first bill. You can also finance a phone through AT&T and the monthly cost will vary depending on which phone you choose. The AT&T Unlimited plan does not include tax and all the other assorted fees in the price.
This plan does not include mobile hotspots (except connected cars), Wireless Home Phone, Wireless Home Phone and Internet, laptops, Timex devices, and ZTE Spro 2 projectors. Users with any of those devices should contact an AT&T representative.
Additional lines can be added to AT&T Unlimited plans. Every line has the same benefits outlined above and the $25 dollar fee applies to each. Here is a pricing breakdown.
Unlimited Plus
- One line of service on an AT&T Unlimited Plus plan is $90
- Two lines of service for $145
- Up to eight additional lines (includes any phone, LTE tablets, LTE hotspots and connected cars) for $20 per line
- Add a wearable for $10 per month
Unlimited Choice
- One line of service on an AT&T Unlimited Choice plan is $60
- Two lines of service for $115
- Up to eight additional lines (includes any phone, LTE tablets, LTE hotspots and connected cars) for $20 per line
- Add a wearable for $10 per month
AT&T Unlimited Plan add-ons
You can add a tablet or connected car to your AT&T Unlimited plan for the standard $20 monthly fee or through the AT&T 1GB Tablet plan. This plan offers 1GB of data for your tablet for $10 per month, with overages at $15 per Gigabyte. You can add a wearable (Timex wearables are not eligible) to your plan for $10 a month. You can also add a feature phone or messaging phone to your account for $20 per month.
Secondary perks
AT&T offers a plethora of services and apps to use them. Services include AT&T Drive Mode, AT&T Tablet messaging, AT&T Locker and more. You'll find these apps and plenty more at the Microsoft Store (opens in new tab).
Last but not least, AT&T also offers services tailored to business owners. Business Messenger, Global IP Client and more make it easier to merge your physical office with your virtual office. You'll find the apps in your app store and you can get more information by calling 800.331.0500 or visiting an AT&T store.
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I'm an RHCE and Electrical Engineer who loves gadgets of all kinds. You'll find my writings across Mobile Nations and you can hit me on Twitter if you want to say hey.
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Pretty much sucks compared to the rest.
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I have a family of three so we would really get the shaft if we switched to AT&T.
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ATT Go phone, $42.50 including tax per line. Unlimited task and text, 4GB of data throttled after the 4GB but no overage charges. Total cost for the same 4 lines $170. Not worth it.
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Yep contractless (aka month to month, prepaid) is the new way if you really want to be free from them and for them to keep offering you competitive rates. POSTPAID will try to keep you by offering you "free" upgrades that you will end up paying in fees and other charges...
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If you have a FAN account (account linked to your employer for a discount) it's not too bad. My former employer got me a 17% discount, making this plan $83 before taxes. Now, AT&T is not offering tethering under this unlimited plan, which is dumb.
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I've been an ATT customer for a while, I don't ever remember them officially allowing tethering, which I agree, is dumb.
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Tethering as in, sharing data by using the phone as a wifi hotspot, correct? I have a shared ATT plan that this works with. Not super fast, but it works. I think we have a 15gb shared plan between 4 lines with unlimited talk and text.
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Really? I wonder if it has been my choice in phones in the past then, or possibly that I haven't tried in about 18 months. When I get home I might give it a shot then and see what I can get going.
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Yeah, worked just fine on both my 920 starting in 2013, then was also fine when I switched to an unlocked 950XL and an ATT sim I got for it.
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I have the same plan as you. I was fortunate enough to have overheard AT&T bumping up some plans from 10 gig shared plan per line to 20 gig per line. This was back in 2014 and I talked about it here. I called retention and got the hook up. All I need do was ask. But to get to the point, I have tethering. I don't use it a lot these days since I got this thing called FreedomPop for my tablet but if I need it, its there. What I don't understand is what AT&T plans to do with its Unlimited plan. Right now, if you happen to be in a decent Verizon or T-Mo coverage area, what is the incentive to stay? AT&T does offer Unlimited for your phone if you got DirecTV, But if you mainly want unlimited, the incentive is lost. I suspect AT&T will make a move but the time for that is now.
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No Mobile Hotspot (tethering) is a no-go for this "unlimited"! Tthey suckered me off of my 10gb family plan by not telling me this, luckily I caught it the next day when I tried to hotspot. Called them to confirm its not included and had them reinstate my old plan immediately.
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Comparatively, Verizon has a better deal on the 4 phones since it includes HotSpot. Oh well...
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Expensive
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Is this an Ad article??? AT&T's "unlimited" plan is by far the worst. I'm on AT&T and DirecTV and I declined their "unlimited" plan because of the no hotspotting. I wish they would at least do like Verizon and offer 10GB of hotspotting.
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And that $180 for 4 lines doesn't even include paying for the phone itself (unless you buy it outright) so the prices are gonna be in the $200-$300 range really plus the taxes and fees
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So is the 22gb limit per line? or for all the lines on your plan combined?
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22 GB combined. My girlfriend's family his this and her brother constantly streams so they hit the limit fast.
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It's per line
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So only $180 for 2 phones and a tablet with unlimited data. Not that bad. It reall only gets expensive when you add device payments.
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With the rate of subs they are losing, you'll think they would include 15GB of tethering
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I have been with AT&Terrible since the 920. Going to T-mobile with my 650. $70 with taxes, and a $150 pre paid card for switching.
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T-Mobile or Verizon are the best deals. Instead of $160/mo. with my Lumia 950, I ported both lines to T-Mobile, kept the phones, which costs me about $100/mo., along with $300 in switching money. AND I get tethering with that. Seriously AT&T...misplaced price points.
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Anybody have experience with Cricket? We currently have 3 lines on AT&T with 16GB shared but about to add 2 more lines. Looking at switching to Cricket (and still use AT&T network) for 3 lines with 8GB then throttled and 2 lines with 3GB then throttled. Total bill would be $130. Hotspot would add $10 on a line if I needed it.
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I have the family plan and we have 6 lines so far, this only mentions 4. What happens to lines 5 and 6? We have the 20 Gb plan and with the rollover we still have plenty of data. And the total for 6 is $100 + $15 for each, so $190 / 6 = $32 plus all kinds of taxes and fees. Not sure if it's even worth taking a look at.
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******* at&t will nickel and dime you until that $140 will reach up to $300 in a month. this ******* company is a sleaze just like verizon. stay away from them.
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Close look reveals tethering is an expected feature, like unlimited calling or texting. People are quickly accustomed to having it as part of their plan. AT&T's stance on requiring a paid add-on to tether, even a little bit, is bold. And misguided. They will see.
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I'm feeling pretty good about my plan. 30GB with rollover data and 6 smart phones for $240 including taxes.
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I tether just fine on the AT&T unlimited plan thanks to the easy thether app for Android.
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OP. Could you verify this bullet point? "Unlimited music and video streaming with optional Stream Saver for less data use" My son works at AT&T and is telling me unlimited music and video streaming is NOT offered. Can you confirm?
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You can use your data for whatever you would like to use it for save for tethering. You can stream as much music or videos as you would like. Stream saver is turned on by default to compress such data that way it doesn't consume that much to begin with. If you have AT&T's DIRECTV service, you can stream all of your live TV channels and anything you saved to your DVR data free no matter where you are.
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Have they stopped charging the $25 dollar per line monthly access fee with this plan? Because every data plan att marketed before require this access fee in addition to the data price.
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There is an access charge for the talk and text and then the charge for data. In this instance AT&T says it's $100 for the first line. That breaks down to $40 for access and $60 for the data. Each line after that is just $40 for the access. If you have 4 smartphones then you are only charged for the access on 3, the 4th line is free.
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I have 6 phones. In my area AT&T has the best coverage. I have a Discount offered by my second "work" of 20%. My combined data for all is 15GB. It ain't much but for us is ok. I have tethering included and with taxes an 1 phone paying $11 per month we are paying $220. Do the math, it is not a bad deal. $37. I wish I could have unlimited. Though of switching plans but decided to stay. They must compete to stay in business. Let's see.