This story originally said Verizon forced customers to move to shared data plans when they upgraded to a new devices. This is not the case and the story has been changed to reflect this.
Both AT&T and T-Mobile are moving to simplify their wireless plans by phasing out old offerings.
In a blog post yesterday, AT&T confirmed that it will only offer new customers its bucket-style Mobile Share plans, essentially doing away with its family plans. AT&T stressed that there will be no change for existing customers if they prefer to stay with a different plan. 
Beginning Oct. 25, new customers will only the choice of Mobile Share plans, which start at $50 a month for a basic phone or $70 a month for a smartphone. Both of those plans include unlimited talk and text and 300MB of data that can be shared.
AT&T claims that in 95 percent of new customer scenarios, Mobile Share offers “the same or better price with additional value.”
Meanwhile, T-Mobile is apparently also moving to streamline its offerings in the direction of its Simple Choice plans.
Engadget posted a letter which was supposedly sent by T-Mobile to customers informing them of the change.
T-Mobile will do away with its legacy plans and move customers on those plans to new offerings with similar or better features at a comparable price, according to the Engadget report.
Those that don’t like the change will apparently be given the chance to cancel without fees, if they do so by February 1, 2014.
T-Mobile’s Simple Choice plans start at $50 for unlimited talk, text and 500 MB of high-speed data. From there, the carrier offers unlimited talk and text, with 2.5GB of high-speed data for $60. T-Mobile’s premium offering is unlimited talk, text and high-speed data for $70.
T-Mobile could not be reached for comment prior to press time.
