Consumer Confidential: AT&T; rate hike, Apple’s value tops Greece’s

Here’s your you-give-me-fever Friday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Just weeks after dropping its bid to acquire rival T-Mobile, AT&T; is seeking opportunity elsewhere -- namely, the wallets of customers. The company is jacking up data plan rates by as much as 33% for smartphones and tablet computers. The new plans will debut Sunday. For smartphones, AT&T; will charge $20 a month for 300 megabytes of data, $30 for 3 gigabytes and $50 for 5 gigabytes. Smartphone customers needing additional data can pay $10 per additional gigabyte. If you have a tablet, AT&T; will charge $30 for 3 gigabytes and $50 for 5 gigabytes. Existing customers will have the choice of keeping their current plans or choosing one of the new plans. (ConsumerAffairs.com)

--The business world is getting more enlightened (or fearful of lawsuits). For the first time, all 100 firms on Fortune magazine’s “Best Companies To Work For” list have non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation. In 2008, 95 of the top 100 companies on the list had such policies in place, and by 2011 that number was up to 99. About 86% of Fortune 500 companies now have non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation, up from 61% in 2002. And 60% of these firms now offer health benefits for same-sex domestic partners, up from 34% a decade ago. (CNN)

--And here’s a fun fact: Apple’s value on the stock market briefly rose to $400 billion on Thursday, a record high for what was already the world’s most valuable technology company. That means Apple’s market cap is higher than the gross domestic product of Greece, Austria, Argentina and South Africa. The company will report its finances for the past quarter next week, and analysts expect Apple to announce that its sales grew by 45%, compared with last year. (CNN)