AT&T and Verizon launch single-line plans from $15 to challenge T-Mobile

The shift marks a strategic reversal for carriers that spent a decade pushing multiline discounts to lock in households. AT&T's Build-A-Plan, starting at $15 a month for one line, undercuts its previous $50 entry point by 70 percent. Verizon followed in June with Simplicity, offering unlimited data at $30 for switchers — $25 less than its Unlimited Welcome plan.

"These plans are a bid to win back the cohort of cost-conscious consumers who drifted toward smaller brands," Kutgun Maral, a managing director at Evercore ISI, said.

AT&T's Build-A-Plan lets customers add data, hotspot capability and home internet as optional modules, while Verizon's Simplicity includes 5G Ultra Wideband speeds, 10GB of hotspot data and satellite texting — features absent from the carrier's entry-level Unlimited Welcome plan. Both carriers maintain their existing family plans but are betting that lower single-line pricing will attract younger adults who may later bundle home internet or upgrade to premium tiers.

The new pricing could help AT&T and Verizon reverse subscriber losses to mobile virtual network operators such as US Mobile and Comcast's Xfinity Mobile, which lease the big carriers' networks. Over the long run, the strategy may boost per-user revenue as individual customers add services over time.

How the New Plans Compare

AT&T's Build-A-Plan starts at $15 a month for one line with limited data, with options to add more data, wireless hotspot and home internet. Verizon's Simplicity plan costs $30 a month for customers who bring their number from another carrier, or $45 for existing customers, and includes unlimited 5G Ultra Wideband data, 10GB of high-speed hotspot and satellite texting — a feature unique to Verizon. Both plans carry a three-year price guarantee.

Verizon's Unlimited Welcome plan, at $55 a month for a single line, remains available but restricts users to low-band 5G without Ultra Wideband access. The Unlimited Plus plan, at $70 a month, unlocks the faster speeds and includes 30GB of hotspot data. Verizon also offers discounts of as much as $25 a month for military personnel, veterans, first responders, nurses, teachers and students.

T-Mobile has not introduced a comparable single-line offering. A spokeswoman said the carrier's existing portfolio already includes competitively priced options for individuals and families. T-Mobile recently sunsetted some legacy plans and moved affected customers to newer plans, in some cases increasing their bills. The carrier declined to say how many customers were affected.

A Generational Shift in Carrier Strategy

The industry's previous focus on family plans served as a powerful retention tool. "It was the industry's best retention tool," Diego Scotti, Verizon's former marketing chief, said. Those plans made canceling "a household decision instead of an individual one, and multiline discounts made leaving expensive."

The new single-line options shrink the price gap between individual and family plans, potentially prompting households to reconsider their arrangements. "This could catalyze some family conversations," David Barden, telecom partner at New Street Research, said.

AT&T is betting the plans will serve as a gateway to future services. "When one out of three adults are saying they'd leave their parents' plans for an attractive offer, we want them to choose AT&T at that point," Jenifer Robertson, AT&T's executive vice president and general manager of consumer business, said.

For now, some customers remain content with the status quo. Valerie Remy, a 29-year-old advertising professional, has been on her family's plan since sixth grade and said she has no intention of leaving as long as her mother keeps paying the bill.

AT&T shares have gained less than 1 percent this year, while Verizon shares are up about 2 percent, as both carriers grapple with a saturated US wireless market. The new plans could help stabilize subscriber numbers and create upsell opportunities for home internet and connected-device services. T-Mobile, which has led the industry in subscriber growth, faces pressure to respond with its own pricing adjustments.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.