U.S. wireless carrier AT&T has confirmed that it will raise the rate for its grandfathered unlimited data plan users in February.
Though the move follows similar hikes from both Sprint and Verizon, AT&T’s $5 per month bump will be smaller than the competition’s respective $10 and $20 increases.
The rate hike, which will take effect starting with the customer’s February 2016 service, will bring AT&T’s new grandfathered unlimited data plan total to $35.
“Our unlimited data plan customers continue to receive an incredible value, especially those taking advantage of our 4G LTE network,” an AT&T spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Sprint’s hike went into effect in October and raised the unlimited plan rate for new customers to $70 per month. Those who secured the carrier’s cheaper $60 per month price prior to the increase got to keep the lower rate.
A month later, Verizon raised the cost of its legacy unlimited data plan to $49.99 per month. Though all users of the old data plan saw the same increase, the data plan cost comes in addition to a subscriber’s chosen talk and text rate, meaning final bill costs vary.
According to AT&T, the February price increase will not impact other aspects of the plan, including the current unlimited data speeds. Users will maintain high speed service until they exceed 22 GB of data in a billing cycle and are located in a congested area, the carrier said.
AT&T said users who are unhappy with the price increase will have their early termination fee waived if they decide to cancel their plan within 60 days of the new rate’s implementation. Early termination fees after that period will not be waived. Users who switch to a different plan will not be able to switch back to the unlimited data plan, the carrier said.
The price increase is the first on the plan in seven years, AT&T said.
AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the change.