AT&T Review: Analyzing Its Unlimited Cell Phone Plans

AT&T as a phone carrier

AT&T is one of the three national U.S. carriers, and its network is its strongest selling point. Opensignal’s January 2026 report found AT&T users connected to a mobile signal 99.6% of the time, slightly ahead of Verizon (99.5%) and T-Mobile (99.1%), although T-Mobile won 12 of the report’s awards to AT&T’s one.

Customer satisfaction is weaker. In J.D. Power’s 2026 Wireless Carrier Satisfaction Study (Volume 2), AT&T scored 596 for postpaid, the only network operator under 600, and 614 for prepaid, last among the three national carriers. ACSI’s 2026 study scored AT&T 76, tied with Verizon and behind T-Mobile at 78. The BBB lists 42,350 complaints against AT&T in three years, and its Trustpilot score is 1.2 out of 5.

AT&T's 2026 unlimited plans explained

In March 2026 AT&T replaced its older plans (Value Plus VL, Unlimited Starter SL, Unlimited Extra EL and Unlimited Premium PL) with Value 2.0, Extra 2.0 and Premium 2.0, and added Elite 2.0 in April. All are part of Unlimited Your Way, so each line on an account can choose a different plan.

• Value 2.0: $50 for one line, $30 a line with four. 5GB of high-speed data, after which speeds may slow when the network is busy, and 3GB of hotspot.
• Extra 2.0: $70 for one line, $40 a line with four. 100GB of high-speed data and 50GB of hotspot.
• Premium 2.0: $90 for one line, $50 a line with four. High-speed data that won’t slow based on usage, 100GB of hotspot, 4K video and high-speed use in 20 Latin American countries.
• Elite 2.0: $110 for one line, $70 a line with four. Adds 250GB of hotspot, unlimited international talk and text plus 20GB of data in more than 210 destinations, one smartwatch and one tablet line, and AT&T Turbo.

Prices are with AutoPay and paperless billing and exclude taxes and fees. AT&T lists 10% to 20% Appreciation Savings for military, veterans, teachers and retired first responders, and 20% Signature Savings on Premium 2.0 for eligible employees, union members and students.

Fees, AutoPay rules and 2026 price increases

The advertised price is not your bill. AT&T adds taxes, government fees and its own Administrative and Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee, which rose from $3.99 to $4.99 per line on August 5, 2026. Activation or upgrade fees run up to $50 per line, and a deposit may apply.

The AutoPay discount depends on how you pay: $10 a line with a bank account or the AT&T Points Plus card from Citi, $5 a line with a debit card, and nothing with any other credit card. You also need paperless billing and a valid email address.

If you stayed on an older plan, check your bill. AT&T raised prices on several retired plans in 2026; Complex and CNET reported increases of about $5 to $20 a month depending on the plan and number of lines. Moving to a 2.0 plan is optional but may cost an activation fee.

AT&T Prepaid, Build-A-Plan and Cricket

If you do not want a credit check or a postpaid bill, AT&T Prepaid lists unlimited talk, text and data from $25 a month online for a new single line, with 30GB at up to 3 Mbps and then 1.5 Mbps, plus taxes and fees. AT&T also sells Build-A-Plan, an online-only plan for one line starting at $15 a month plus taxes and fees, with 1GB of data and add-ons for more; you must bring an unlocked, eSIM-capable phone.

Cricket Wireless is owned by AT&T and uses the same network, with unlimited from $35 a month with Auto Pay and government taxes included. In J.D. Power’s 2026 Wireless Carrier Satisfaction Study (Volume 2) it scored 652 for prepaid in J.D. Power’s 2026 study, well above AT&T’s own 614.

Complaints and how to avoid surprise charges

Trustpilot and BBB complaints about AT&T focus on bills higher than quoted, promotions or trade-in credits that never post, and support that is hard to reach.

• Get the full monthly total, including fees, before you sign, and screenshot promotion terms.
• Check that each promised credit appears within three bills, the window AT&T gives for many discounts.
• Know that leaving or changing plans can end promotional bill credits while the phone installment balance remains.
• For outages, the AT&T Guarantee pays at least one day’s credit for wireless downtime of 60 minutes or more from a single incident affecting 8 or more towers, if you were connected to an affected tower.
• If AT&T does not fix a billing or service problem, file with the FCC’s Consumer Complaint Center.

Data breaches, outages and FCC actions

2024 data breaches. In March 2024, data on about 73 million current and former account holders, including Social Security numbers for some, was found on the dark web. In July 2024, AT&T disclosed that hackers downloaded call and text records of nearly all its wireless customers from a Snowflake cloud workspace. A federal judge in Texas gave final approval to a $177 million settlement in early October 2026; estimated payments for people who filed claims range from about $6.50 to $40, after the appeal period ends.

Location data fine. The FCC fined AT&T $57.3 million in 2024 for sharing customers’ location data without consent. AT&T won in the Fifth Circuit, but on June 4, 2026 the Supreme Court reversed that decision and upheld the FCC’s process.

Other actions. In September 2024 AT&T paid a $13 million FCC settlement over a vendor breach affecting 8.9 million wireless customers. Its February 22, 2024 nationwide outage blocked more than 92 million calls, including more than 25,000 to 911, according to the FCC.