By David P. Willis; Asbury Park Press ~ Aug 06, 2012

AT&T Wireless will start to sell its new mobile share plans on Aug. 23, plans that allow consumers to use a monthly data allotment among various devices and smartphones.

Last July, AT&T unveiled the new plans, an option that new and existing customers can switch to without extending their current contracts. The data was announced Monday on AT&T’s consumer blog.

Customers can share a single bucket of data across smartphones, tablets and other devices, along with unlimited talking and texting.

The pricing depends on how much data you want and the number of devices you’ll use. So for instance, 4 gigabytes of data will cost $70 plus $40 for each smartphone while 10 gigabytes of data will cost $120 plus $30 for each smartphone. The most expensive option is $200 for 20 gigabytes and $30 for each smartphone. The price for each laptop or tablet is less.

For instance, a family might have a heavy user, such as a teenager, and a parent or grandparent that only uses a small amount of data.

“They can all share that one large plan and you don’t have to spend the minimum $20 for the one person to get a plan,” Robert Woodier, AT&T’s director of sales for New Jersey told Press on Your Side during a video chat on app.com. “They can just use from the data that the collective group is using.”