Orange County Register

Here’s an interesting approach to cell phone data plans: Pay as you go.

Interesting because the company behind this is A&T Wireless (company tells me it goes by AT&T these days), which specializes in 2-year contracts and monthly service.

AT&T introduced its new DataConnect Pass plans, which let customers pay by the day, week or month. There are megabyte limits, but if you just need service for a few hours, you can get a day pass for $15. That gets you up to 75 megabytes.

You’ll need an AT&T compatible certified netbook or laptop card to get the service, which either means you’re already in a data plan or your contract expired. CLARIFICATION 4:34 p.m.: AT&T says that the new data plans are available to any prepaid customer whether they are an AT&T customer or not. All you need is a SIM card, which are free from any AT&T store, plus a compatible netbook or laptop, then go to this page and follow the prompts. I’m unsure how much the hardware will set a customer back since there are many certified AT&T products, like the $300 TomTom XL 340s LIVE GPS. But this service is only for netbooks and laptop cards.

Some netbooks and laptop cards are available at all 25 Orange County AT&T stores.

As soon as you set up the device and purchase a session, the clock begins. More details at att.com/buyasession.

AT&T’s new data plans are:

• DataConnect Day Pass (75 MB) – $15
• DataConnect Week Pass (250 MB) – $30
• DataConnect Month Pass (500 MB) – $50

Comparably, if you want to lock yourself into a contract, AT&T’s monthly data plans start at $20/month for 10 MB. You get a discount on the laptop cards, which are free to $200 with a 2-year contract and mail-in rebates. Netbooks are $150 to $200 with contract.

AT&T isn’t the first company to offer a pay-as-you-go data plan. Virgin Mobile offers one too, which requires a mix of pre-paid card purchases, choice of a data plan (100 MB to 1 GB) and purchase of the $99 USB modem.

More on cell, mobile services:

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.