Back in April, we covered the news that AT&T has added a “Turbo” add-on option to their postpaid plans. This option enables customers who need “priority data” to pay $7 for a higher priority on the network, giving them what AT&T calls “performance data”.
For the nerds out there, this means those with the “Turbo” option are placed on QCI 7, which is a higher network priority level than standard plan access (lower QCI number = better).
It now appears, at least for some specific customers, the company is allowing prepaid accounts to enable this “Turbo” option. As first spotted on Reddit, customers on the “Unlimited MAX” prepaid plan from AT&T now have the option to purchase the $7 “Turbo” add-on.
AT&T describes the “Turbo” add-on as an option that “improves wireless data connectivity when on the AT&T network by giving customers the ability to upgrade their high-speed (premium) and hotspot data allotments to performance data.”
Once purchased, the customer receives this higher priority data over the following 30 days.
Notably, the only plan eligible to enable this add-on is also the most expensive prepaid plan AT&T offers. When you account for the base cost of the plan ($55/mo with autopay) plus the $7 per month add-on cost it ends up being pretty close to postpaid pricing.
AT&T will likely want to keep it that way, too. Reserving the higher priority for the customers paying the most simply makes the best business sense. That being said, there is always the possibility that AT&T will allow other prepaid plans to use the add-on eventually, though perhaps at a higher monthly cost than $7.
Customers interested who have an eligible plan can enable the new option now in your account settings. If you’re not on an eligible plan, you can sign up for prepaid here on AT&T’s prepaid website.
