Just about a month after Verizon rolled out its new shared data plans, AT&T is following suit with what it calls “Mobile Share” plans.

 

Like Verizon’s Share Everything, Mobile Share provides a bucket of data that can be shared by as many as 10 devices, CNET reports. Although one device must be a smartphone, the others can be anything from basic phones, to laptops to tablets (all added with an additional fee). The plans, which offer unlimited voice and text, are priced by the gigabyte, starting at U.S.$40 for 1 GB, with a U.S.$45 fee to connect each smartphone. AT&T’s plans are set to launch in August.

 

Yankee Group Senior Analyst Rich Karpinski comments

 

“It's not surprising to see AT&T adopt much the same approach to shared plans as Verizon in key areas, including data pricing, making voice and SMS unlimited and an overall focus on encouraging customers to add large numbers of relatively low-consuming devices—rather than encouraging high-bandwidth video usage, for example. The twist comes, however, in that AT&T did not make the move to shared mandatory as Verizon did. That gives AT&T, and indeed the entire market, an ‘out’ and potentially makes shared plans less of a true game-changer than Verizon's more radical approach portended. It will be interesting to watch adoption and impact of shared plans, given the two different approaches—as well T-Mobile and Sprint's rejection of the approach, at least so far.”