AT&T GoPhone data plans now offer 50MB per month for $5, 200MB for $15, and 1GB for $25. The move is aimed at getting more potential prepaid customers to consider a smartphone: Just as in a contracted plan, smartphones on prepaid accounts require a data plan, and that puts more money .

The packages debut on April 22, the company says.

How does GoPhone compare? Verizon offers a $30 monthly unlimited data plan for prepaid customers, while Virgin Mobile does the same (including 300 minutes of talk time) for $35 a month.

The prepaid champion though is T-Mobile, which offers an unlimited talk, text, and data plan for $50 a month. recently compared the prepaid plans of various carriers, and found T-Mobile one of the best. So AT&T still needs to do a bit more here to be truly competitive.