Edible Apple

AT&T made some surprising changes to its smartphone data plans today.

Customers can pick the new data plan that best meets their needs – either a $15 per month entry plan or a $25 per month plan with 10 times more data. Current smartphone customers are not required to switch to the new plans, but can choose to do so without a contract extension.

Let’s break it down.

For $15/month, under the Data Plus plan, users get 200MB of data. AT&T notes that the quota is “enough to send/receive 1,000 emails (no attachments), plus send/receive 150 emails with attachments, plus view 400 Web pages, plus post 50 photos on social media sites, plus watch 20 minutes of streaming video.”

For $25/month, under the Data Pro plan, users get 2GB of data with each additional GB costing $10. AT&T explains that 2GB is “enough to send/receive 10,000 emails (no attachments), plus send/receive 1,500 emails with attachments, plus view 4,000 Web pages, plus post 500 photos to social media sites, plus watch 200 minutes of streaming video.”

The new plans take effect on June 7th and will do away with AT&T’s previous plan of $30/month for unlimited data. While AT&T notes that 98% of iPhone users use less than 2GB of bandwidth, current iPhone users will be grandfathered in, so to speak, and will be able to keep their $30/month unlimited plan if they so choose.

With Apple set to release their next-gen iPhone with video chatting capabilities later this month, some customers were nervous that the unlimited plan they’re accustomed to wouldn’t apply to iPhone upgrades. Well you have nothing to worry about, bandwidth hogs. AT&T responded to such concerns on their Facebook page, noting that the aforementioned grandfather clause will apply “even when it’s time to upgrade to a new phone.”