AT&T Feels The Heat From T-Mobile, Lifts Speed Caps On Unlimited Elite Phone Plans

When launched initially, AT&T's Unlimited Elite plan allowed customers to consume 100GB of data during their billing cycle before being subject to data de-prioritization (i.e., throttling at AT&T's discretion). In addition, the plan gave customers 30GB of hotspot data and a maximum of 1080p video streaming.

The Unlimited Elite plan lifts the data de-prioritization restrictions with this week's updates, allowing truly "unlimited" data without speed caps. AT&T also increased the amount monthly allotment of hotspot data from 30GB to 40GB. At first glance, it's kind of odd that AT&T would still cap hotspot data on an unlimited plan because, after all, it's still the same data. However, AT&T probably wants to discourage customers from using a smartphone plan to feed all their devices in a home with this newly enhanced Unlimited Elite option.

That isn't all that AT&T is changing; however, it also upgraded maximum video streaming quality from 1080p to 4K UHD resolution.

AT&T's Unlimited Elite plan now matches T-Mobile Magenta MAX on features, including 5G support, for those keeping scores. The prices of the competing plans are also the same at $85/month (for a single line) with autopay enabled. The only significant difference between the two is that AT&T Unlimited Elite bundles in HBO Max, while T-Mobile Magenta MAX gets you a Netflix subscription.

AT&T will roll out these new features for existing Unlimited Elite subscribers later this week at no additional cost.