AT&T is adjusting its data caps for home broadband subscribers, the company announced Tuesday in a blog post. The new higher limits range from 300GB to 1TB per month, depending on subscribers' speed tiers.
Customers who have both AT&T's U-Verse broadband and TV service, or also subscribe to DirecTV, will be exempted from the new limits. Otherwise, AT&T will charge $30 a month for unlimited internet. If you're not on the unlimited plan and exceed your cap, you will receive increments of 50 GB of additional data for $10 each.
Though you can select the unlimited option at any time, AT&T will not automatically enroll you in an unlimited plan if you exceed the limits. It will cap overage charges at $100 per month, though.
The changes go into effect on May 23, with AT&T encouraging customers to figure out how much data they consume using its online tool before then. The company says only 4 percent of its subscribers use more data than the new limits allow.
AT&T has long experimented with data caps for its broadband customers. In 2008 (before the rise of Netflix streaming), it experimented with a 150GB per month limit after a similar move by Comcast. That limit was extended to all DSL customers in 2011.
It has also recently experimented with exemptions for customers who subscribe to more than one service. In January DirecTV and U-Verse customers were offered the option to subscribe to unlimited wireless data for $100 a month.
The caps announced today are similar to Comcast's new unlimited data option, which started rolling out in select markets last fall. Comcast also charges $30 a month extra for unlimited data.