AT&T adds Elevate 4G and Momentum 4G LTE gear, new roaming
updated 10:20 am EDT, Tue July 12, 2011
ATT Elevate 4G and Momentum 4G join new world plan
AT&T on Tuesday rolled out its first real LTE devices and gave its world roaming plans a much needed lift. The Sierra Wireless-made Elevate 4G is the highlight and can share either a true 4G or an HSPA+ link with as many as five other devices over Wi-Fi. A 1.77-inch LCD gives a connection status and, in a rarity, also shows the amount of data left on the bandwidth cap to save users the trouble of checking through AT&T itself.
A companion Sierra modem, the Momentum 4G, provides a USB connection for a single computer with similar support for LTE and HSPA+ speeds. Apart from a frequency change, it remains the same as the modem we tried with Rogers and has a swiveling design as well as a streamlined install. A microSDHC slot turns it into temporary storage.
Both of the devices lack a specific release date other than hand-in-hand with the summer LTE launch. The two will be relatively inexpensive, however, at $70 on contract for the Elevate 4G and $50 for the Momentum 4G.
AT&T's international data also got an upgrade in anticipation of the faster speeds as well as to partly reflect modern reality. The basic $25 monthly data plan now goes from 20MB to 50MB; the next step up has not only jumped from 50MB to 125MB but taken a $10 price cut to $50. A previous $120/100MB plan has dropped to $100 while getting a much larger 275MB, and a range-topping $200 plan has the same price but goes from 200MB to 800MB.
All of the plans bolt on to a hotspot, smartphone, tablet, or other device and apply in about 100 countries in which AT&T has roaming deals.
