Jump to content

Lets talk about the new unlimited data phone plans


87GT
 Share

Recommended Posts

So all major carriers, sprint, t-mobile, at&t, and verzion rolled out unlimited data plans with some catches. I briefly looked at them all and verizon in detail since their are my carrier.

 

In a nutshell cost minus taxes, bullshit fees, and any lease payments per line plus probably setup on auto pay (at&t requires some direct tv subscription)

 

1 line

 

  • sprint $50
  • t-mobile $70
  • verizon $80
  • at&t $100

 

2 lines

 

  • sprint $90
  • t-mobile $120
  • verizon $140
  • at&t $140

 

3 lines

 

  • sprint $90
  • t-mobile $140
  • verizon $162
  • at&t $180

 

4 lines

 

  • sprint $90
  • t-mobile $160
  • verizon $180
  • at&t $180

 

Verizon specifically won't give you an employee discount on the unlimited plan. You can only get a military/veterans discount. My employee discount of 23% is out the window in my case if I change. There is some throttling to 3G speeds as expected once you reach a certain amount of data. It is around 20-25GB per line from what I read. If you are not on auto pay through bank account or debit card add $10 per month to the amounts above. I don't know what the rest of the companies charge does anyone know?

 

In my case the unlimited is too expensive for my needs. Currently 3 lines, 10GB of data shared, employee discount, plus 1 phone I'm still paying a lease on is $125 and some change a month. I use around 5-6 GB of data combined on a very heavy month. I was lucky to get a special promo on the data plan last year when I was on vacation.

 

What does everyone else think with these plans? Specifically should I switch to sprint? I can get an employee discount and I think it is around 20% but no idea if that applies to the unlimited plan. Also what about cell phone coverage? I am spoiled by Verizon's coverage. In every state I've been on vacation I can only remember 1 time I had no coverage. A few times I could at minimum browse the internet and receive calls. Over 90% of the time I have LTE with zero issues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also I'm on T-Mobile currently. I travel a lot to and from Cincy and to Michigan and I've never had cell issues. Only when I'm like deep in rural Pennsylvania.

 

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

 

Are you on LTE all the time?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you on LTE all the time?

Yes most of the time. I tether to my car radio as well.

 

I also got unlimited data in Montreal and Toronto this past year. Super happy with my carrier. I had sprint and didn't really have issues there either. Verizon and att have always been out of my price range for plans. I prefer a GSM carrier though so I can buy unlocked phones.

 

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually just signed up for Verizon's unlimited tonight before I saw this thread. Doing auto-pay also for a $5/mo discount.

 

Ditching home cable/internet so I figure it's a net win. I'll use my phone as a hotspot if I need my computer.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's all a racket.

 

Of course it is but the only way to avoid it is go without a cell phone.

 

I have an 8gig plan through Verizon now only because i BARELY go over 4 gigs a month and the next lowest plan is... you guessed it, 4 gigs a month. I'm going to be looking into it, even if I can save a couple of bucks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

we have 4 lines with verizon and my wife gets us a discount for working at OSU. I got on the verizon chat this week just to see how it would work out. Our bill would go up by $62/month if we went to the unlimited plan. Our current plan is for 6 gigs/month and all but 2-3 months a year we never get close to that. During the summer when we're doing vacations we get close but the rest of the year it's around 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to have Verizon years ago, then they ditched the unlimited plan so I ditched them. They have the best service by far.

 

I've had Sprint for the past 5 years or so? It's been improving. I rarely find myself pissed over the service these days.

 

Data has never been throttled. I use 25+ gigs a month. I refuse to lease a phone, or make payments on a cell phone. That's absurd. They've let me continue with 2 year contracts, although it takes a little fuss. Canada and Mexico are also covered which is nice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I refuse to lease a phone, or make payments on a cell phone. That's absurd. They've let me continue with 2 year contracts, although it takes a little fuss. Canada and Mexico are also covered which is nice.

 

 

Yeah, I think that leasing the phone is absurd. I just paid out of pocket when I got my last phone

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm super glad that Verizon is doing this, but my existing 4GB plan is cheaper based on my usage and corporate discount. Apparently the unlimited plan is not subject to any corporate discounts, so my bill would increase by $20/month or so. I rarely go over 2 GB of mobile data and I don't even try to throttle myself. Benefits of having WiFi everywhere but the drive, and the rollover data is nice too.

 

Still, kudos to Verizon for offering it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

something I've wondered about data usage......how much data does Pandora use? I almost always just use my ipod but have always wondered if I ran pandora if it eats up a bunch of data.

 

Depends on how good the coverage is in the area your trying to stream it but the answer is usually not a ton at all, video streaming eats data quick. Do you use it enough places without wifi?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder how much data you use for a Home PC.....Id love to ditch my cable and internet and just tether when I need it at home. Obviously I would lose some speed, but I dont know that it would hurt me that bad. ANyone have suggestions on this?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder how much data you use for a Home PC.....Id love to ditch my cable and internet and just tether when I need it at home. Obviously I would lose some speed, but I dont know that it would hurt me that bad. ANyone have suggestions on this?

 

do you stream a lot? would you stream a lot?

 

ATT and Verizon will still make you pay to tether.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have T-Mobile, I'm very happy with their service with the addition of LTE Band 12. I now have LTE where AT&T does not, and sometimes where Verizon does not. Recently, there was a story where T-Mobile now has the fastest LTE network, and only trails Verizon's network coverage across the country by .2%.

 

We have unlimited LTE, throttled after 100GB (per line, not total), AND their "taxes and fees" paid plan rolled into one. We pay $140/mo for four lines. Period.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This Verizon Unlimited is a BIG DEAL for us.

 

We live out in a rural area where there is no internet provider. To make things worse my wife works from home and does VOIP. Most months we were spending $300+ on internets.

 

We had excede satellite, and they were good until their equipment started goofing up and wanted to charge me to fix it. I told them to push a Rope. At that time Verizon had recently changed their plans and it was cheaper to get them to provide our home internet.

 

Its a nightmare having counted data for home services. People come over and you have to deny them access, because MOST folks don't realize they have automatic settings to do a bunch of data hogging activity, as soon as they get on wifi. We've lost a lot of data that way so we just deny people access all together.

 

Furthermore we still have netflix but only use the DVD option.

 

Verizon is the only carrier with reliable internet where we are.

 

Even though I realize there is a 22GB limit on 4G data, even 3G should be plenty for most The other part of this is that Video streaming does not count towards your data consumption. Which is a huge deal. Since now we can netflix.

 

4 lines plus our home modem at this rate is a steal. 6 months ago we were paying $450 a month for internet and phones.

 

This is a big deal for rural areas where verizon does have the better network and so many people have been left disconnected. i'll take my 5 acres, not seeing neighbors and having unlimited internet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This Verizon Unlimited is a BIG DEAL for us.

 

We live out in a rural area where there is no internet provider. To make things worse my wife works from home and does VOIP. Most months we were spending $300+ on internets.

 

We had excede satellite, and they were good until their equipment started goofing up and wanted to charge me to fix it. I told them to push a Rope. At that time Verizon had recently changed their plans and it was cheaper to get them to provide our home internet.

 

Its a nightmare having counted data for home services. People come over and you have to deny them access, because MOST folks don't realize they have automatic settings to do a bunch of data hogging activity, as soon as they get on wifi. We've lost a lot of data that way so we just deny people access all together.

 

Furthermore we still have netflix but only use the DVD option.

 

Verizon is the only carrier with reliable internet where we are.

 

Even though I realize there is a 22GB limit on 4G data, even 3G should be plenty for most The other part of this is that Video streaming does not count towards your data consumption. Which is a huge deal. Since now we can netflix.

 

4 lines plus our home modem at this rate is a steal. 6 months ago we were paying $450 a month for internet and phones.

 

This is a big deal for rural areas where verizon does have the better network and so many people have been left disconnected. i'll take my 5 acres, not seeing neighbors and having unlimited internet.

 

sounds awesome for you guys....glad it works out for you. I'm also going to adopt the "push rope" saying. Been using pound sand for decades....be a nice little change for me. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

something I've wondered about data usage......how much data does Pandora use? I almost always just use my ipod but have always wondered if I ran pandora if it eats up a bunch of data.

 

I use pandora one with the better audio quality turned on. Mostly used on my drive to and from work which is 30 minutes one way. I use 2-2.5GB for pandora per month.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder how much data you use for a Home PC.....Id love to ditch my cable and internet and just tether when I need it at home. Obviously I would lose some speed, but I dont know that it would hurt me that bad. ANyone have suggestions on this?

 

Netflix or Hulu is usually playing on a TV in my house. I download shit on my PC and xbox one. My house averages 250-300GB per month.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder how much data you use for a Home PC.....Id love to ditch my cable and internet and just tether when I need it at home. Obviously I would lose some speed, but I dont know that it would hurt me that bad. ANyone have suggestions on this?

 

Wireless companies throttle the shit out of you once you hit a certain data usage. There is no hard data to confirm "when" you get throttled... but my one buddy has had Verizon Unlimited since he was in middle school and he claims they throttle him at 7GB where as some say they get throttled at 8-9GB per month. I know ATT will throttle us all the time and we have 10GB on 4 lines.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...