Now AT&T Is Offering An Unlimited Plan For $99
OK we're not even done with the Verizon flat-rate phone plans news announcement and here comes Ma Bell with its own $99-a-month unlimited offer. … By the way, this unlimited plan is for voice only. No changes on data and SMS pricing, which still cost an arm and a leg.
Context & Ripple Effects
Verizon's flat-rate announcement forced an immediate response: within days AT&T matched it with its own $99-a-month unlimited voice plan, and the Associated Press wire framed it as a three-carrier price battle. For AT&T this sits directly on top of the simple, affordable service plans it built with Apple for the iPhone launch in mid-2007 — the carrier that spent last summer defending per-minute iPhone pricing is now conceding the voice side of the bill.
The timing matters because both carriers are simultaneously bidding against Google in the 700 MHz spectrum auction for 1,200 licenses, so they are fighting on two fronts: buying tomorrow's network capacity today while cutting the price of yesterday's product.
First-order effects
- AT&T and Verizon subscribers on high-minute plans can now cap their voice bill at $99 regardless of usage, collapsing the overage-fee economics both carriers relied on.
- The plan is voice-only — data and SMS pricing stay untouched, so heavy-texting customers see no relief despite the 'unlimited' framing.
Second-order effects
- With voice commoditized at a matching $99 price point, differentiation migrates entirely to data — where unconfirmed reports suggest AT&T may be preparing an iPhone tethering plan, a move that would monetize exactly the traffic the new plan excludes.
- SMS becomes the most exposed margin: carriers charging pennies per message next to a $99 unlimited voice plan will face growing pressure to bundle or discount messaging.
Third-order effects
- If unlimited voice spreads across all three carriers, per-minute billing dies as an industry structure and wireless revenue growth depends on data services — the same networks AT&T and Verizon are bidding billions to expand in the 700 MHz auction.
- The pattern points toward flat-rate pricing as table stakes, forcing carriers to compete on network capacity and device exclusives (the iPhone being AT&T's current lever) rather than rate plans.
The trend: US mobile carriers are converging on flat-rate unlimited pricing for voice, pushing competition toward data services, devices, and spectrum just as the 700 MHz auction opens.