AT&T Prepaid Plans: The Pros, Cons, Pricing and Features

AT&T Prepaid Plans: AT&T Prepaid plans are plans offered by the network carriers that allow you to pay before you can make use of the service they provide. Simply put, it’s payment first, service later, or pay before service.

AT&T has one of the most confusing Prepaid Plans. It’s not because these AT&T Prepaid plans are difficult to understand but because there are a lot of them.

Lots of prepaid plans mean you also get lots of choices. The prepaid plans from AT&T start from about $25 and get as high as $75. With lots of terms and conditions in-between.

So to make it easier for you, I’ve decided to introduce you to these ATT prepaid plans. This article explains the features of AT&T prepaid including their pricing, pros, and cons. All the hidden details are explained to you.

Not to worry, this is not sponsored content, hence you can trust this honest review. My next article will be about picking which prepaid plans from AT&T are best for you. Let’s get started.

AT&T Prepaid Plans

AT&T offers its customers about 8 prepaid plans. Some enjoy network technology up to 4G, others give you access to 4G & 5G, while some are strictly 5G. Below are the prepaid plans from AT&T;

AT&T Online Deal (4G)
AT&T Budget Conscious (4G)
AT&T Big Deal (4G)
AT&T Unlimited (4G)
AT&T Unlimited Plus (4G & 5G)
AT&T Best Value Plan (5G)
AT&T Essential Data (5G)
AT&T Great Deal (5G)

AT&T Online Deal

If you are looking for a cutout deal for a prepaid plan, then you might want to consider AT&T online deal. It’s a prepaid plan that gives you up to 8GB of high speed and it cost $25 monthly. But, to enjoy the $25 offer, you have to pay all $300 upon activation of this plan.

And you have to pay online or at selected AT&T retail locations. You also get access to some good features while it has its restrictions. The table below shows the pros and cons of this prepaid plan.

AT&T Online Deal Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
The overall package is cheap	Only 8GB of fast data
Roll over data	All $300 must be paid upfront
Stream HD video	Hidden charges
Available in Mexico & Canada	No 5G data available
Mobile Hotspot	No Cloud storage included
Fraud call blocking & spam alerts
Unlimited talk and text

If you can make use of 8GB of fast data every month, can pay $300 upfront every 12 months, and are not a fan of 5G or don’t have a 5G-enabled device, then this plan might be suitable for you.

AT&T Budget Conscious

This is one of the new prepaid plans from AT&T. It cost $30 per month and unlike the AT&T Online Deal, you don’t have to pay for 12 months of service upfront. But, you’ll be getting a lower 5GB of fast data and stream video in Standard Definition (SD) instead of High Definition (HD).

Also, during network congestion or busy hours, you might experience slow data speed. However, there is also some good stuff about this prepaid plan. The table below shows the pros and cons of this prepaid plan.

AT&T Budget Conscious Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Fraud call blocking & spam alerts	Only 5GB of fast data
Roll over data	You might experience slow speed during busy hours
Mobile Hotspot	Hidden charges
Unlimited talk and text	No 5G data available
Stream videos in SD	No Cloud storage included
	Use in Mexico & Canada but at extra cost

This prepaid plan might not seem like much but it covers the basics of data plans namely; unlimited talk and text, security, mobile hotspot, and rollover data. To enjoy 5G and more data speed, you’ll need to pay more.

AT&T Big Deal

Paying $40 per month, the AT&T big data will give you 15GB of fast data among other things. Also, 5G access is not included and you still have to pay taxes and extra fees.

But if it’s any consolation, according to AT&T, you’ll be getting 3x more speed compared to AT&T Budget Conscious which cost $30 above. The table below shows the pros and cons of this prepaid plan.

AT&T Big Deal Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Fraud call blocking & spam alerts	You might experience slow speed during busy hours
Roll over data	Hidden charges
Mobile Hotspot	No 5G data available
Unlimited talk and text	No Cloud storage included
15GB of fast data
Use in Mexico & Canada

To be honest 15GB of fast data is not that much but to be fair it’s not that bad either. Again, you’ll miss out on 5G which won’t be much of a problem if you don’t own a 5G device.

AT&T Unlimited

AT&T Unlimited Prepaid gives you access to unlimited use of data for $50. Truth is, there is really no such thing as unlimited data for now. Most unlimited data has a data cap which means after hitting the data cap, your speed will be slowed.

But, getting unlimited talk, text, and fast data above 15GB is quite interesting. And if you ask me, it’s not that bad of a deal. To help you understand this prepaid plan more, please check the pros and cons in the table below.

AT&T Unlimited Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Fraud call blocking & spam alerts	You might experience slow speed during busy hours
Unlimited talk and text	Hidden charges
More than 15GB of fast data	No 5G data available
Use in Mexico & Canada	No Cloud storage included
	No Rollover data
	Mobile Hotspot will cost you extra

Note that if you activate the above-prepaid plan without Auto Pay, you’ll be paying $65. So, be sure to turn on AT&T Auto Pay to enable you to get the $15 discount during activation.

AT&T Unlimited Plus

AT&T Unlimited Plus prepaid gives you access to 5G and 22GB of fast data. The price for the Unlimited Plus prepaid from AT&T is $60 per month for those that turn on AT&T AutoPay. If you pay without Auto Pay, then you’ll be getting the prepaid plan for $75 and that is $15 more.

Getting 5G and increased fast data is impressive for the price tag. But there is even more and you can find out by checking the pros and cons from the table below.

AT&T Unlimited Plus Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
5G access is available	You might experience slow speed during busy hours
Unlimited talk and text	Hidden charges
22GB of fast data	No Rollover data
Use in Mexico & Canada
Stream Video in HD
Fraud call blocking & spam alerts
100GB of Cloud storage included
10GB of Mobile Hotspot

This is by far the best Prepaid plan from AT&T. It gives you more for the money you’re paying to activate the plan. But, it’s not all the company is offering. There are also 5G-specific prepaid plans.

AT&T 5G Prepaid Plans

If you are looking for AT&T 5G plans, then you might want to take a look at these plans below.

AT&T Best Value Plan: This 5G prepaid plan costs $25 per month and you’ll get 20GB of 5G high-speed data. But note that you can only pay $300 yearly as this plan is not designed for monthly payments.
AT&T Essential Data: You get 15GB of5G high-speed data and the price is $35 monthly.
AT&T Great Deal: For $55 monthly, this plan gives you 100GB of high 5G speed data every month.

Note that the prices above do not include taxes and extra fees.

AT&T Prepaid Plans Recap

AT&T Prepaid plans cover the basics of what you need. You get the needed security, you get to enjoy unlimited texts and talk, etc. But the more you need, the more money you’ll need to spend. You’ll need to spend more to get 5G access, cloud storage, mobile hotspot, and use AT&T services in Mexico and Canada.

Which leaves the question, why not just activate any of the AT&T unlimited plans? With an additional $5, you can activate AT&T’s Unlimited Starter and get access to more perks and features you’ll be paying extra to get with the most expensive prepaid plan from AT&T.

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