AT&T Inc. is lowering prices on some of its wireless-calling plans for a second time in six months, and moving to a model of charging users based on the amount of Internet surfing they do and email traffic they
generate on devices like the iPhone.
Beginning June 7, the carrier will offer new plans costing $15 a month for 200 megabytes of data traffic or $25 a month for 2 gigabytes. AT&T says 98% of its customers use less than those amounts.
The new plans will lower the cost of an entry-level voice and data plan for smartphones by $15, to $54.99. Existing users will have the option of sticking with their current plans.
Executives at AT&T and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, have said this year that consumers are going to have to start paying for the amount of data they use as devices become more sophisticated and traffic explodes.