As of this morning, all four major wireless carriers offer data plans described as "unlimited" to all their customers. But while I'm reluctantly willing to describe the Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint plans as unlimited (despite some restrictions), AT&T's plan could better be described as a "22GB data plan but you can't actually use that data to watch pretty videos or do work on your laptop" plan.
Admittedly, it's not such a catchy description, but it does have the alternative benefit of being true.
When AT&T announced the plan yesterday, it didn't give us all of the pricing details or restrictions on that unlimited data. But now that the plan is available, we can see specifics, and it suddenly looks like less of a good deal.
Let's start with the fine print. There's a lot of it, which you can examine in detail here, but two conditions really stand out:
Tethering and mobile hotspot use are prohibited (except for Connected Cars) Stream Saver is included on select plans, including the new AT&T Unlimited Plan. Stream Saver is designed to identify streaming video content so that data speed and resolution of higher definition video can be adjusted to Standard Definition quality (about 480p). This allows customers to stream more video while using the same amount of data.According to these details, there's no way for you to use the mobile hotspot feature on your phone, even in a limited way. If you ever need to work on the go, forget about AT&T's unlimited plan, in other words. It's particularly bad when you compare it to Verizon and T-Mobile's newly-updated Unlimited plans, both of which offer 10GB of 4G tethering, and unlimited tethering at slower speeds.
Stream Saver is phrased as a consumer-friendly way of saving you data, but the end result is probably a little different than what you want: it means that you can't stream video in HD, even if you want to. Again, it doesn't look good compared to T-Mobile or Verizon, both of which actually allow you to choose if you want to stream HD or SD video.
Then there's the pricing. The spreadsheet above shows the different prices for all the different Unlimited plans, and as you can see, AT&T doesn't compare particularly well. AT&T's pricing is $100 for the first smartphone, and then $40 thereafter for each additional device. The company is promising a bill credit for $40 when you add one more smartphone, which means three or four lines are virtually the same price (although you'll stay pay taxes on the fourth line, we assume).
The estimated taxes are a best guess based on the New York zip code, as as none of the customer service teams I contacted could actually give me a firm quote for the taxes and fees on each plan. T-Mobile includes all taxes and fees in the stated price.
Based on those prices, AT&T is the most expensive, and is particularly bad if you're just one person wanting unlimited data. Given than Verizon and T-Mobile rank in front of AT&T in network speed and availability, and have plans that are cheaper and more generous with data, there's no actual reason I can see for going with AT&T's new plan.
The holiday season might be over, but that doesn't mean we have to wait until the end of the year for more great sales. On Friday at midnight, Best Buy kicked off its annual President's Day sale, offering up dozens of deals on smartphones, TVs, computers, cameras, appliances and more. The sale lasts all weekend and the retailer says that quantities are limited, so don't delay if you see an interesting deal.
Rather than list all of the deals available in the sale, we've rounded up the very best that we could find and broke them down by category below. Whether you're looking for a cheap iPhone 7, an affordable 4K TV or a touchscreen laptop that won't break the bank, we've got you covered:
Smartphones iPhone 7 & iPhone 7 Plus - Save up to $150 iPhone SE - Starting at $9.99/month Samsung Galaxy S6 (32GB) Unlocked - $399.99 (save $50) LG G5 - Starting at $9.99/month Sony Xperia XZ (32GB) Unlocked - $499.99 (save $150) Televisions Samsung - 32" Class (31.5" Diag.) - LED - 720p - $189.99 (save $30) Westinghouse - 43" Class (42.5" Diag.) - LED - 2160p - $249.99 (save $50) Toshiba - 43" Class (42.5" Diag.) - LED - 2160p - $299.99 (save $100) Hisense - 65" Class (64.5" Diag.) - LED - 2160p - $749.99 (save $150) Samsung - 65" Class (64.5" Diag.) - LED - 2160p - $879.99 (save $220) Computers Lenovo - 100S-14IBR 14" Laptop - $179.99 (save $50) HP - 15.6" Touch-Screen Laptop - $329.99 (save $70) HP - Pavilion x360 2-in-1 13.3" Touch-Screen Laptop - $449.99 (save $50) Microsoft - Surface Pro 4 - 12.3" - 128GB - $649.99 (save $150) Apple - 21.5" iMac with Retina 4K display - $1,299.99 (save $200)There are plenty of other unlocked phones, printers, vacuum cleaners, headphones, routers, cases, external hard drives and more available on Best Buy's website, so be sure to check out the full sale there.
A brutal attack on a beloved Sufi shrine that killed 88 people raised fears that the Islamic State group has become emboldened in Pakistan, aided by an army of homegrown militants benefiting from hideouts in neighboring Afghanistan, analysts and officials said Friday. Pakistani security forces have carried out sweeping country-wide raids following Thursday’s bombing of the shrine in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province that also wounded 343 people. The military’s public relations wing reported on its official twitter account that more than 100 suspected ‘terrorists” were killed in the raids, while government officials lashed out at Kabul accusing the Afghan government of ignoring earlier pleas to crackdown on militant hideouts. (AP) See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Tumbl
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