A downloadable app, AT&T’s new Data Perks program allows you to “earn extra data from your favorite brands” by “taking surveys, shopping, and more.” As explained on the telecommunications company’s website, “Your data is stored within the app and is easily transferred to your AT&T account for use within your current bill period.”
While the service provider’s willingness to give customers a relatively easy way to increase their data access is certainly commendable, it also highlights the absurdities of the overages that companies like AT&T and Verizon charge their customers for making use of a cellphone’s purpose — staying connected. Recently, T-Mobile took out their frustrations with their competitor’s policies, with T-Mobile flying a plane over Verizon’s headquarters that left an “Abolish Overages” message in the skies.
Verizon, of course, shot back with accusations of T-Mobile’s spotty coverage, which frequently seems to be the trade-off for decent pricing.
So just how much free data are you eligible to receive through data perks? Not that much, if we’re being honest. If you read the fine print, you’ll find that you can earn up to 1,000 megabytes of data over the course of one billing period, or around one gigabyte. Furthermore, you have to have a post-paid AT&T account — as it turns out, prepaid account holders aren’t eligible for this particular promotion. So even if getting this extra data is as easy as watching a full 10 minute video, whether or not it’s worth it is still up for debate.
