AT&T is boosting the speeds of its Fiber home internet plans for new and existing users
The 100Mbps plan is getting a speed bump to 300Mbps, while the middle Internet 300 tier will now have 500Mbps speeds.
AT&T is giving its Fiber home internet customers a speed boost. On Monday, the telecom giant announced changes to its home internet offerings that should give those with the service faster internet speeds -- without a change in price.
As part of the move, the carrier's 100Mbps home internet plan will be going away: 300Mbps will be the company's slowest internet plan. The midtier plan will move to 500Mbps, while the top option remains at 1Gbps. AT&T, like some other fiber broadband options, offers symmetrical speeds for downloads and uploads. The company also does not have any data caps.
Read more: AT&T home internet: All you need to know
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Customers who currently have 100Mbps internet plans will be automatically upgraded to the 300Mbps plan at no extra charge, and AT&T will also bump up those on 300Mbps plans to the 500Mbps option. The carrier tells CNET that the upgrade process will start in June; the company plans to notify customers by email, physical mail or text message once they've been upgraded.
With the switch, AT&T's home internet plans are as follows for new customers in their first year:
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- Internet 300: $35 per month for a year for 300 Mbps
- Internet 500: $45 per month for a year for 500 Mbps
- Internet 1000: $60 per month for a year for 1 Gbps, includes HBO Max
Note that the pricing factors in AutoPay and paperless billing but doesn't include taxes or fees, such as the unavoidable $10-per-month equipment fee (AT&T still requires its customers to lease a modem). After one year the bill will rise to a "prevailing rate," which for new customers will be an increase of $20 per month regardless of the plan they choose.
The new speed tiers come amid renewed competition in the home broadband arena, including from rival wireless carriers T-Mobile and Verizon, which have been upping their respective home internet services using 4G LTE and 5G networks. AT&T is preparing for a big expansion of its Fiber home broadband in 2021, announcing at its analyst day in March that it was looking to build out its home broadband footprint with the addition of 3 million new fiber locations this year and potentially another 4 million locations in 2022.
