AT&T call center representatives in the GoPhone divison have confirmed to PhoneNews.com that the current $19.99 unlimited GoPhone data option on Pay As You Go service would be discontinued on November 12th, stating that the offering was meant as a trial exercise and that the company is exploring other options for prepaid data offerings.
Speculation and criticism abounded that the offering has led to abuse of network resources, and that many sites including PhoneNews.com encouraged people to drop more profitable data plans in order to take advantage of the much lower rate, compared to current rates offered as postpaid add-ons.
PhoneNews.com has been at the forefront of this situation ever since we were the first news organization to break the news on an unlimited prepaid data offering thanks to our savvy readership in May, and combined with our promotion in the Sony Ericsson Z750, made the idea of cheap 3G data access appealing to thousands of people, especially those fortunate to live in markets with full HSPA access, as the $19.99 rate made AT&T the least expensive provider of 3G data in the world.
Now with the imminent discontinuation of the offering and no other immediate alternatives available, savvy users will once again be left with other more mainstream and expensive options for no contract data access such as Verizon, unless one chooses to take advantage of a longstanding loophole in AT&T’s GoPhone Pick Your Plan Rollover program.
News reported by phonenews.com
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