AT&T revealed today their new data plans along with the announcement of the the availability of data tethering for iPhones, just in time for the big event next week where Steve Jobs will (most likely) announce the forth generation iPhone. They will no longer offer $30 unlimited data plans (their unlimited was really never unlimited, it had a soft-cap of 5GB), instead they’ll offer a 200 MB capped plan for $15 or 2 GB for $25, with each additional GB priced at $10. Check out my handy chart:

My immediate reaction to this announcement was of outrage as I intended to keep my “unlimited” plan, as I have the ability to WiFi, USB or Bluetooth tether my iPhone and laptop thanks to the magic of jailbreaking. Appeantly I wasn’t the only one with a negative reaction towards at&t’s new pricing scheme.  The problem is that I am planning on getting a 4th generation iPhone as soon as it comes out and I don’t want to lose my tethering ability (at least temporarily, until they jailbreak OS4). I then decided to check my actual data usage (AT&T provides neat historical graphs when viewing your billing details online) only to find out that I’ve haven’t exceeded 1 GB a month, even while traveling where I use the “illegal” tethering feature of my iPhone quite frequently.

The guys from Ars are also curious about your data-munching trends, and even share their charts. So, my idea is switch to the 2 GB + tethering plan, pay $15 more per month and finally be able to share my iPhone’s data connection without having to worry about at&t breathing down my neck.