AT&T seems anxious enough to lock in both your wired and wireless business that it’s rolling out “OneConnect” plans that bundle its fiber broadband and its wireless network for much less than what it charges separately for those services.
These bundles, announced Tuesday, start at $90 for an Individual plan for a 1Gbps fiber connection, one phone, and up to three “data devices” (meaning only wearables and tablets). A $120 Duo plan covers two people, two phones, and up to six data devices; a $225 Family option allows unlimited people, up to 10 voice lines, and up to 10 data devices.
However, AT&T isn’t clarifying what sort of wireless plan you get in this deal. The carrier calls it “unlimited” but has no details about things such as what priority data you get or how much data you have for mobile-hotspot usage. Chrissy Murray, an AT&T spokesperson, said in an email that international roaming is not included but otherwise described the OneConnect wireless plan as a new offering and a work in progress.
“We’re testing and refining additional features/capabilities based on customer feedback,” she wrote. “We’ll roll out enhancements in stages as we confirm performance and the end‑to‑end experience.”
What is clear from AT&T’s announcement: These prices include taxes and fees, unlike its advertised prices for standalone fiber and wireless, and represent a considerable discount from those rates.
For example, AT&T’s Value 2.0 plan, the cheapest among the new lineup introduced earlier in March–somehow at mostly lower costs than the plans they replaced–costs $50 a month on an individual line with 5GB of priority data and 3GB of mobile hotspot. AT&T’s fiber, meanwhile, goes for $70 a month for a 1Gbps connection in such markets as Chicago and Dallas.
But OneConnect has one catch, called out in an asterisked item at the bottom of AT&T’s press release: You have to bring your own unlocked phone, tablet, or wearable.
