New math hurts case for old unlimited data plans
Q. Now that AT&T and Verizon have redone their wireless pricing, does it still make sense to hang on to their old, unlimited plans?
A. Perhaps not--unless you don’t need tethering yet still use an enormous amount of data otherwise.
That’s because the new rates at AT&T and Verizon provide more data than what was on the table when I considered this issue in the spring of 2013. The first-generation “shared data” plans available then were awfully stingy--think $100 for 2 gigabytes a month plus unlimited calling and texting at Verizon, $90 for 3 GB monthly with unlimited calls and texts at AT&T.
Our data usage has gone up, but those prices have gone down--thanks to aggressive competition from Sprint and T-Mobile. (More about those two shortly.)
At AT&T, $90 now buys a 5 GB “Mobile Share” plan with unlimited calls and texts on a two-year contract, in which inflated monthly rates subsidize a phone’s price. (That’s how a $650 iPhone 6 can sell for $200.) The cost of 5 GB drops to $75 on its “Next” plans, where you pay full price on the phone. Or you can get a 2 GB plan for $70 on contract or $55 on on Next.
By way of comparison, AT&T’s last unlimited-data bundle for an iPhone was 2009’s $75 sum of a voice-and-unlimited data bundle and an extra $5 for 200 texts. That rate factored in a phone-price subsidy, so you can and should buy new devices on two-year contracts… while you can, which AT&T doesn’t expect to be too long.
But remember that on the unlimited plan, sharing your phone’s bandwidth with a laptop via WiFi (“tethering” or “mobile hotspot”) costs $5 extra, while current Mobile Share plans include it. And if you don’t turn off tethering by the end of a billing cycle, your plan gets switched off unlimited permanently.
AT&T’s unlimited plans carry an extra risk of having your connection throttled back to 2G speeds when the carrier decides its network is congested. And no, the Federal Communications Commission’s $100 million fine for not adequately disclosing this policy (which AT&T is contesting) won’t end that.
AT&T says it will continue to throttle the connections of subscribers in areas with network congestion who hit usage thresholds: 5 GB for LTE phones, 3 GB for slower models. As before, your only notice of throttling starting or stopping will your speed collapsing or resuming, not a text from the company.
With Verizon, two-year contracts and subsidized phone prices are gone. On its new “Verizon Plan” menu, $100 ($80 plus a $20 per-line fee) gets you 12 GB of data. Or you can get 6 GB for $80 total, 3 GB for $50 or 1 GB for $50.
Most of those prices beat the $90 Verizon charged for unlimited data plus 450 voice minutes and unlimited texting on a two-year contract--with 2 GB of tethering $20 extra--when it got the iPhone in early 2011.
But if you really do use more than 12 GB, you no longer must feel bad about having to pay a phone’s unsubsidized price: Any new customer must pay full price too.
Meanwhile, Sprint and T-Mobile still sell unlimited-data plans. Sprint’s costs $60 a month for a leased or full-price phone, $85 on a two-year contract, and tethering adds $10 a month for 1 GB of use. T-Mobile charges $80 a month and includes 7 GB a month of tethering.
Tip: How to check data usage on your phone and compare it to what’s on your bill
In many of my conversations with wireless subscribers, their data usage remains a mystery. Maybe understandably, since popular smartphones don’t always offer enough help:
• On an iPhone, open the Settings app and tap Cellular to see your total for the “current period”--not month or billing cycle, but since you last reset these measurements. To see per-app usage and reset these stats, scroll all the way down.
• On an Android device, swipe down from the top and tap the wireless-network icon to see data usage since “your most recent data usage cycle”--a monthly interval that may not coincide with your billing. To change that and get a per-app breakdown, tap “More Settings.”
• Microsoft’s Windows Phone includes a Data Sense app that--crazy thought--may even come preset with your plan info. If not, tell this app how much data you get and when that limit resets by tapping its “Set limit” button.
When in doubt, check your bill. That’s the final word on data usage.
Rob Pegoraro is a tech writer based out of Washington, D.C. To submit a tech question, e-mail Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/robpegoraro.