That didn't take long. T-Mobile has been hounding consumers with aggressive marketing tactics and AT&T has finally responded with more appealing monthly rates for data sharing plans and no-contract options.

AT&T customers will now be able to avail of the new plans starting this Sunday, Dec 8. To enjoy the perks of these more affordable plans, customers can avail of the monthly installment plan, use a phone that is compatible with AT&T's existing network or purchase a new phone from the company itself.

Many tech pundits have celebrated AT&T's failure to purchase T-Mobile as a good thing and with good reason. Healthy competition is almost always good for the customers as evinced by the recent price drops in the AT&T plans. How Verizon will respond to the latest developments in AT&T and T-Mobile marketing strategies remains to be seen. However, with Verizon's recent network problems in the LA and New York areas, the company may be pressured to follow suit.

The new AT&T plans are called Mobile Share Value Plans. These plans provide people with a preset list of basic services that include data, messaging and calls and consumers can simply link their devices to their plans. The new plans are built to leverage on AT&T's latest framework that was released last summer and consumers get to enjoy a variety of unlimited services such as Facetime, calls messaging plus access to AT&T WiFi. However, customers will have to pick a predefined data bundle.

"With our new Mobile Share Value Plans, customers don't have to compromise," said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility. "Our new no contract option lets customers add a smartphone to the nation's fastest and most reliable 4G LTE network at a lower monthly cost. Customers want great value and a premium network - and now they can save more and get unlimited talk, text and data to share."

While there were numerous changes made to AT&T's existing plans, not all of the changes were accompanied by price drops.

In terms of data, the basic 300MB data plan comes for $20 monthly (unchanged), while the top of the line 50GB plan will set you back by $375 per month (compared to $500 monthly on old plan). There are also intermediate plans - the 10GB is for $100 (old plan was $120), 8GB, which is a newly introduced plan, is for $90, 6GB is for $80 (old plan was $90), 4GB is for $70 (no change), 2GB is for $55 (price increase as old plan was for $50), 1GB is for $45 (price rise as old plan was for $40). It means that you only get to save more if you avail of the higher data plans.

However, adding a device to an existing plan is now cheaper compared to the previous rates. Earlier, AT&T charged anything between $30 to $50 for smartphones that were included in the plan, depending on the data plans. However, now AT&T has introduced a flat rate of $25 per additional no-contract smartphone, while adding a basic phone now costs $10 less at $20. The fee for smartphone under 2-year contract is a flat rate of $40 across the board, irrespective of data plans.

Conclusion? Get more savings only if you're not under any contract and only if you eat more data.