Another month, another promotion. At least for the moment, the nation’s two biggest carriers are lowering the cost of service plans faster than consumers are increasing their appetites for mobile data. While that should leave most of us with little to complain about, the divergence between AT&T and Verizon at this point creates some interesting choices heading into the holiday season. And to further complicate matters Verizon has added an interesting sweetener, along with striking an unfortunately sour note as it works to maintain the top spot. For both potential and existing customers, there’s much to consider.  OK, let’s start with Verizon. What’s the new offer?  In a nutshell, two of the most popular More Everything plans — those that give you a shared pool of data for multiple smartphones or tablets to use each month — got a boost of 50% or better. The $80 plan previously offered 6GB, now it offers 10GB. The $100 plan, which used to offer 10GB, now includes 15GB. You can look at this a lot of different ways. A family of four very likely can downgrade and save $20 per month as most people use just 1-2GB per person and the large pool allows for the low use of one person in a given month to give the others even more data to play with.  Verizon’s announcement linked to another post in which it cites a study suggested mobile data use will grow 325% by 2018. With this upgrade, it’s offering customers 50% of what they will likely need then right now. Existing users just need to log into their accounts to select the plan, Verizon says. Currently, this offer is live and while Verizon makes clear it won’t be forever there’s no explicit end date.  As always, each smartphone will cost $15-40 a month on top of the shared data, depending on whether you get it on contract, on installments, or by buying it outright (and also depending how big your data plan is.)  That’s nice, but you seemed to suggest there’s more.  Yes, two more positive developments. First, the “double data” promos on the $130-and-up plans are still in effect — at least for now. That promotion seems likely to run at least until November 15. The reason will be apparent shortly.  Second, if you aren’t yet with Verizon and would like to come over, the carrier is offering a bounty of $150 per existing number to do so. The bonus comes as a billing credit once the port is done. While T-Mobile has been doing this for some time, it’s especially newsworthy that Verizon is not because there’s any evidence they’re losing customers (monthly churn was flat there) but because it shows increased aggressiveness. As consumers, we’re all benefitting from the four-company mobile free for all. Remember to thank the government this Thanksgiving.  OK, but what’s the not so good part?
AT&amp;T and Verizon didn't wait long to come up with another promotion offering more data for less money. This time, though, they didn't match one another bit for bit. AT&amp;T targeted a lower price point while Verizon continued to focus up the curve. What does all this mean for you?