AT&T will officially launch shared data plans August 23, allowing you to share data between all your devices rather than need separate data plans for each individual gadget.
Plans are available in sizes ranging from 1GB to 20GB. Each plan is required to have one smartphone on it -– which will receive unlimited talk and text as part of the plan -– and can then have up to nine other devices added on to share the same data, with an extra charge if that device happens to be a phone. Each plan includes tethering, as well as access to over 30,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots.
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Mobile Share plans won’t be mandatory for new customers, so you can still rock an individual or family plan if you decide that’s what’s right for you. Depending on how you’re using the devices you have, however, a shared data plan could help you lower your bill and get data where you need it.
For instance, if you tend to use a lot of data on your smartphone, but not very much on your tablet, then sharing the data between then two might work to your benefit. If you have a few tablets and a mobile hotspot on your plan as well, the deal could get even better.
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If you’re already paying to use a few smartphones on your plan as mobile hotspots, then Mobile Share is a bargain simply because it doesn’t charge you to enable the tethering option and gives you access to that data on all your devices.
Overages on Mobile Share plans, however, are a little more hefty than they are with traditional plans --$15 per GB rather than $10 -– so if you don’t plan accordingly you could wind up shelling out more than anticipated when come bill time.
AT&T has set up a Mobile Share Planner tool to help you select the plan that might be right for you.
What do you think about sharing data between devices on the same plan? Would you rather have one pool of data for all of your devices, or have individual data allotments for each one?
This story originally published on Mashable here.