AT&T prepaid brand Cricket is wooing customers with more data on its popular $50 mid-tier plan.
The carrier on Friday began offering 8 GB of data on its $50 plan, an increase of 60 percent over its previous offer of 5 GB at the same price point. As before, Cricket said the plan will include unlimited talk and text. Customers can also get an additional $5 off each month when they sign up for Auto Pay, the carrier said.
According to Cricket, the move is another way to offer customers “more for less,” but the impact of the change on Cricket’s customer mix remains to be seen.
The previous $50 plan with 5 GB of data sat squarely between the carrier’s lower-end $40 plan with 2.5 GB of data and its high plan of $60 for 10 GB of data. While the bump in data could woo some $40 customers upward, it also makes room for some lower use $60 customers to drop down.
Cricket also offers a $30 per month package with 1 GB of data and a $70 per month unlimited plan.
However, the move is likely a strategic hit at prepaid competitor T-Mobile, which recorded blockbuster prepaid additions in the most recent quarter while AT&T’s prepaid net additions declined slightly.
Like Cricket, T-Mobile’s prepaid options include plans at $40 per month for 3 GB of data, $50 per month for 5 GB of data and $60 per month for 10 GB of data. But despite the similar offerings, T-Mobile stomped AT&T in prepaid net additions in the third quarter with 684,000 branded prepaid net adds to Cricket and GoPhone’s 304,000 prepaid net adds. The latter AT&T figure was down from 365,000 prepaid net additions in the second quarter.