AT&T Prepaid Rollover Plans Rose $3, Then Vanished

AT&T Prepaid raised its 5GB plan to $33 a month on February 6, 2026, and its 15GB plan to $43, with no grandfathering. Those were the last two monthly phone plans that still bundled Rollover Data and a built-in hotspot. By spring, both were gone from the public shop.

The $3 Hike Landed on February 6

AT&T’s own site listed the 5GB plan at $30 and the 15GB plan at $40 before the change. Each rose by $3, plus taxes and fees. People already on those plans saw the new rate on the first billing cycle after the deadline. There was no grace window and no locked-in old price.

Both plans carried unused high-speed data into the next 30-day renewal if the customer paid on time, and both let the phone’s data allowance run as a hotspot. After the high-speed bucket ran out, speeds fell to a maximum of 128 Kbps for the rest of the cycle, which is slow enough that tethering barely works.

THE FEBRUARY 6 PREPAID INCREASE

That $3 is $36 extra over a year on the same bucket of data. The hike did not add speed, hotspot, or roaming. It only moved the two remaining capped-data phone plans closer to AT&T Prepaid’s cheaper unlimited ads.

Those Rollover Plans Left the Shop Window

Shoppers who open the current AT&T Prepaid plan list will not find a 5GB or 15GB option. The live cards are a 12-month unlimited at $20 a month when you prepay $240, a $25 online unlimited, and Unlimited Saver at $35. AT&T’s own explainer still adds Unlimited Enhanced Plus at $45 and Unlimited Ultra at $60. None of those cards is a 5GB or 15GB rollover plan.

A reviewer who had signed up for the 5GB plan at $30 later wrote that AT&T Prepaid had dropped limited-data plans and that every current plan was unlimited. Comparison listings still host a stale 15GB page in some directories, which is not the same as being able to buy it. Existing lines may still be sitting on the hiked $33 and $43 rates. Changing the plan wipes leftover Rollover Data.

THE 2026 PREPAID CALENDAR

1. January 13, 2026: The $3 increase on the 5GB and 15GB rollover plans is disclosed, effective February 6, with no grandfathering.
2. January 20, 2026: Cell-plan analyst Stetson Doggett logs a cheaper annual rate, a dropped 8GB three-month plan, a dropped $50 unlimited tier, and Level Up on every monthly plan.
3. February 6, 2026: The 5GB plan bills at $33 and the 15GB plan bills at $43 on the next cycle.
4. April 24, 2026: A separate, permanent postpaid rate increase takes effect. AT&T says that change does not apply to prepaid accounts.
5. June 1, 2026: AT&T Prepaid pushes Unlimited Saver at Walmart with three free months after three paid months, the replacement product, not the rollover plans.

The public menu is now an unlimited ladder. If you still have 5GB or 15GB, you are on a leftover rate, not a plan AT&T is selling to the next customer in line.

Cheap Unlimited Starts at 3 Mbps

The $25 online unlimited and the $35 Saver plan both advertise unlimited talk, text, and data. The fine print is a hard cap, not a busy-tower slowdown. You get 30GB each month at a maximum of 3 Mbps, then a further cut to 1.5 Mbps. Video is standard definition. There is no included hotspot on either plan.

Three megabits is enough for maps, mail, and SD streams. It is not enough for comfortable HD video, fat downloads, or a clean video call. The cap is the product. It does not rise if the tower is empty.

THE SPEED AND HOTSPOT CAPS

• $25 online unlimited: 30GB at 3 Mbps, then 1.5 Mbps, no hotspot, new single line, online only.
• $35 Unlimited Saver: The same 30GB at 3 Mbps, then 1.5 Mbps, no hotspot, sold in more channels and tied to phone offers.
• $45 Enhanced Plus: Unlimited data that may slow only when the network is busy, plus 10GB of hotspot.
• $20 annual ($240): 16GB of high-speed data, then 1.5 Mbps, plus 10GB of hotspot.

The $25 plan also carries a five-year price lock on the official shop card. Saver and the annual plan are the ones AT&T marks as eligible for phone deals. The $25 online plan was already the tier that did not qualify for those discounts when the rollover hike was announced.

A $10 Add-On Replaces Built-In Hotspot

On the old 5GB and 15GB plans, hotspot came out of the same bucket as phone data. On the cheap unlimited plans, it does not. AT&T sells a 5GB hotspot add-on for $10 a month plus taxes, added in the prepaid account at any time. After that 5GB, hotspot falls to a maximum of 128 Kbps, and AT&T’s own footnote says tethering will not fully function at that speed.

Stack the add-on on Saver and you are paying $45 for 3 Mbps phone data plus 5GB of hotspot. Enhanced Plus is also $45, with congestion-only slowing and 10GB of hotspot. The add-on is the more expensive way to get a worse hotspot.

HOW HOTSPOT WORKS ON THE MENU NOW

• Annual plan: 10GB of hotspot is included when you prepay $240.
• Add-on: 5GB of hotspot for $10 a month on plans that do not include it.
• Enhanced Plus: 10GB of hotspot at $45 a month, with Mexico and Canada data (25GB a month in Canada).
• Unlimited Ultra: 30GB of hotspot at $60 a month, with HD streaming.
• Dedicated device: 50GB for $55 a month, in-store only, for tablets and hotspot hardware.

Family discounts still exist. AT&T’s prepaid shop says extra lines can save up to $20 a month per line. Multi-line deals have long required a plan of at least $30, which is why the old 5GB SKU sat on the qualifying side of that line and the $25 online unlimited did not.

Six On-Time Months Buy a Postpaid Phone

Every monthly AT&T Prepaid plan now includes Level Up. Pay on time for six months in a row, then move to a postpaid plan, and AT&T will finance a new phone at $0 down, interest-free, with no credit check for that step. The official shop presents that path as the way to get the latest phones without credit.

Pay on time for six months and when you’re ready, move to postpaid to get access to the latest phones with $0 down and interest-free financing, regardless of your credit score

Stetson Doggett, cell-plan analyst, on X

Doggett’s January note on six months of on-time payments is the same offer the shop still prints. Prepaid is no longer only a place to stay. It is a six-month on-ramp onto postpaid device payments, which is where AT&T makes the phone subsidy back.

That is why pulling rollover plans off the shelf and leaving 3 Mbps unlimited at $25 and $35 is a coherent catalog, not a messy one. Light users get a locked cheap rate with no hotspot. Anyone who wants a financed phone is pointed at Saver, the annual plan, or a jump to postpaid after 6 months of clean payments.

April’s Postpaid Increase Did Not Touch Prepaid

AT&T ran a second, louder price change in the spring, and it is easy to smash the two together. The company’s 2026 wireless price increase FAQ says that increase is permanent, that it applies only to postpaid accounts, and that it does not change a device payment agreement. Notices went on bills and into account messages starting March 19, 2026. The last day to change a plan before the new postpaid price was April 23. The new rates hit April 24.

There were no prorated charges for that postpaid change. Discounts already on the account stayed if the customer still qualified. Prepaid bills were outside that FAQ on purpose. The February $3 move was a different lever, aimed at two prepaid SKUs, and it landed two months earlier.

Postpaid also got new 2.0 plans in March and a modular Build-A-Plan in May that starts at $15 for 1GB. Those are not prepaid. They matter only because Level Up is how a prepaid customer is invited into that world after half a year of on-time refills.

What Rollover Customers Lose in the Swap

Stay on 5GB at $33 and you keep leftover gigabytes for one renewal and a hotspot that uses the same data. Move to the $25 or $35 unlimited and you gain a much larger 30GB bucket, then lose full-speed data, lose rollover, and lose hotspot unless you pay $10 more. Move to Enhanced Plus at $45 and you finally get unthrottled-until-busy data and 10GB of hotspot, which is $2 more than the hiked 15GB plan and a different product.

ROLLOVER VS THE PUBLIC UNLIMITED LADDER

AT&T’s rollover support page still says unused high-speed data on select monthly and multi-month plans, excluding unlimited, carries over one 30-day renewal when the plan renews on time. Any plan change expires that leftover. People who treat prepaid as a hassle, with account reviews that can close a line and stores that will not fix it, have a reason to sit still on a hiked leftover plan even when the math looks ugly.

MVNOs on the same towers still sell more high-speed data at these prices, and Cricket, which AT&T owns, still packages unlimited with hotspot on its own menu. The February $3 was never going to match those offers. It only had to make AT&T’s last rollover plans look worse than AT&T’s own 3 Mbps unlimited, then take the rollover plans off the shelf.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did AT&T Grandfather the 5GB and 15GB Prepaid Plans?

No. Customers already on those plans paid the new $33 and $43 rates on the first billing cycle after February 6, 2026. Unused Rollover Data still expires if you change the plan, cancel, or let the balance lapse, so staying put is the only way to keep leftover gigabytes.

Do AT&T Prepaid Unlimited Plans Include Rollover Data?

No. AT&T’s rollover rules cover select monthly and multi-month plans and exclude unlimited plans. Unused high-speed data on a qualifying capped plan carries over one 30-day renewal if you renew on time, and data add-ons are capped at 15GB of stored balance.

Did the April 2026 AT&T Wireless Price Increase Apply to Prepaid?

No. AT&T says that permanent increase applied only to postpaid accounts, with bill and account notices starting March 19, 2026, a last plan-change date of April 23, and new prices on April 24, and it did not alter device-payment agreements or add prorated charges.

What Speed Remains After AT&T Prepaid Hotspot Data Runs Out?

Hotspot drops to a maximum of 128 Kbps for the rest of the monthly period once the included or add-on hotspot allotment is gone, and AT&T says tethering will not fully function at that speed, which is a harder floor than the 1.5 Mbps cap on the cheap unlimited phone data.

If you are still on 5GB or 15GB, the next refill at $33 or $43 is the whole decision. Change the plan and the leftover data is gone the same day.