AT&T reportedly discontinues sales of subsidized tablets

The Pantech Element is one of the tablets sold by AT&T.

/ CNET

(CNET) It appears the days of subsidized pricing for tablets are over at AT&T.

The carrier will no longer offer discounted, on-contract sales of tablets, according to a document published by Engadget. The document, which appears to be a briefing on new in-house sales policies, seems to indicate that today is the last day it will offer subsidized pricing of slates when purchased with a two-year data contract:

Customers purchasing a tablet after August 19, 2012, no longer have a two-year pricing option. The only option available will be the no commitment pricing.

The document also details changes to the company's DataConnect mobile broadband services. Effective immediately, data pricing plans for tablets will be lowered by $5. The new monthly data plans are 250MB for $14.99, 3GB for $30, and 5GB for $50.

If true, AT&T will be joining the growing trend of no device subsidies. In June, Verizon Wireless quietly revealed that it would stop selling subsidized tablets and Netbooks as part of its Share Everything plans, which allow tablets to use a pool of shared data for $10 a month extra.

AT&T did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.

This article originally appeared on CNET.

[hypnotoad72]

And can the US government do to AT&T what AT&T is doing to tablets:

http://www.ctj.org/html/layoffs.htm

Discontinue the corporate subsidy (WELFARE)...

[hypnotoad72]

Next up: Smartphones