In a bid to look even more attractive to customers, AT&T has made a deal with Google to offer six months of Stadia Pro access at no extra charge to new (and newly upgraded) fiber internet customers as well as wireless subscribers with eligible plans that switch to 5G-capable phones. It's the latest in a series of moves by cell phone and internet providers to entice new customers over to their services.
Immediately wondering what the heck Google Stadia Pro is and why you should care? Essentially, it's a relatively new form of gaming. A cloud-based gaming service, the idea is that you simply download an app or browse to the Stadia.com website before choosing to play a game through the app or website. Rather then relying on the hardware your home computer provides, the Stadia servers do all the hard work so you can get on with playing even if your computer or smartphone isn't the fastest of devices any more.
The Google Stadia catalog includes over 170 different games to play encompassing a wide range of different genres from relatively casual indie titles to the latest AAA hits. The beauty here is that you don't have to pay a penny to play any of them because it's included as part of your AT&T subscription. New games are added every month and you can claim free games too, so there's always something new to check out and thanks to AT&T, streaming should be near-instant. It's possible to buy a Stadia Premiere Edition (with a Google Chromecast and a Stadia controller) for $20 if you prefer to feel more like you're playing a 'proper' games console but there's no requirement here so you may as well hop into the browser-based option instead.
Touted as the next big thing in gaming by Google and other companies, analysts are less certain about its success rate but when Stadia Pro is entirely free for six months, there's no harm in trying it. All you need to get started is a strong and stable internet connection and, of course, that's exactly what AT&T is hoping to prove with its partnership. In our look at the best internet providers, we've already regarded AT&T as the best for reliability so you should be onto a good thing here.
6 months of Google Stadia Pro is available entirely for free for AT&T wireless customers who have signed up for an eligible unlimited plan with a 5G smartphone, as well as AT&T Fiber customers who partake in the 300Mbps, 500Mbps and 1 GIG speed plans. After the 6 months expires, you'll be charged $9.99 per month but you can cancel at any time to avoid being billed. Full details are available at the AT&T site.
While we're not convinced this will sway avid gamers who already own games consoles, this does seem like a great offer if you simply want to dabble in gaming and see what's out there. Google Stadia is fairly stable with the right internet connection and no doubt AT&T will be keen to stress that it's the exact internet connection you require, having already cited that its networks are optimized for gaming. The offer is available now if you're keen to try it out for yourself.
