Unlimited Data Compared: AT&T vs. Sprint vs. T-Mobile vs. Verizon

There’s no need to ask if we can hear it now. We’ve all heard it in the past few weeks: Introductions of new unlimited data plans have dominated the news. The Big Four cellular network providers in the U.S. are back at war, and consumers can be the winners.

But you have to comprehend what each new plan truly involves and whether it’s worth your while to a consider a switch. Please know that there’s more to a cellular plan than price — picking a provider with poor coverage in your area or poor customer service does no good. With that in mind, we’ve broken down the latest offerings from each of the Big Four to see if you can save some money on your smartphone plan.

When Unlimited Means Something Else

Understand that although these unlimited plans all involved unlimited data usage, the speeds at which you’ll access that data is not unlimited. Each of the Big Four reserves the right to slow your download/upload speeds once you hit a certain amount of data usage within a billing month, depending on network congestion. This “throttling” effect may be tough to deal with for some users. It’ll be nearly impossible to stream HD video at throttled data speeds, for example. Here are the data limits you’ll hit before potentially seeing your speed slowed (per month and per line). All four offer very similar options.

• AT&T: 22 GB
• Sprint: 23 GB
• T-Mobile: 28 GB
• Verizon: 22 GB

AT&T

AT&T has offered some unlimited plans in the past, such as for those who also subscribe to its DirecTV or U-verse services.

With the recent shakeup in the industry though, AT&T has refined its plans a couple of times since the start of the year. These plans are available to current or new AT&T subscribers.

With the latest Unlimited Plus, you can have up to eight lines on one account with this plan. The baseline prices start at $90 for one line, $145 for two lines, $165 for three lines, $185 for four lines, and $205 for five lines.

If you’re a DirecTV subscriber who switches to Unlimited Plus, you’ll receive a $25 discount on your DirecTV bill every month. (DirecTV Now and U-verse subscribers receive the same deal.) AT&T says this is a limited time offer though.

What They’re Not Telling You

• Extra fees and taxes are not included in the quoted monthly prices.
• You cannot use the smartphone as a hot spot with this unlimited plan.
• You’ll pay one-time activation fees of about $25 per line if you’re a new customer.

Sprint

Sprint has decided to make its unlimited plans more enticing by using promotional pricing. You’ll pay $50 for the first line per month and $40 for the second line. Up to three additional lines are free.

Once the promotional period ends, which is expected to occur early in 2018, the first line will cost $60 monthly and the second line will cost $40 monthly. Additional lines will run $30 apiece up to five lines.

This means that as a baseline price, you’ll pay $90 during the promotional period for four or five lines. After the promotional period ends, you’ll pay about $160 as a baseline for four lines and $190 per month for five lines.

What They’re Not Telling You

• To receive the $90 promotional price for five lines, you have to use auto pay, otherwise you’ll be charged $5 per month per line.
• There are no paper bills with this offer; only electronic billing.
• For HD quality video as part of the unlimited data package, you’ll pay an extra $20 per month per line. (SD quality video doesn’t cost extra.)
• The promotional pricing deal is only offered to those new to Sprint; existing Sprint customers may be able to add unlimited to a current plan, but they’ll have to contact the carrier for details.
• Fees and taxes are not included in the promotional price.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile made the fewest changes to its unlimited plans. Even so, it still remains one of the least expensive options out there. In fact, it’s not out of line to think that the other Big Four providers were trying to match T-Mobile with their latest changes.

T-Mobile offers a first line for $70 per month on its unlimited plan, and the second line costs only $30 monthly. Two additional lines will run you about $60 total per month, so you’re paying around $160 per month as a baseline price for four lines and $180 per month for five lines. (For a limited time, T-Mobile is offering three lines for $100 per month, meaning you’ll essentially receive the third line free.)

What They’re Not Telling You

• Not much. T-Mobile includes all fees and taxes within its quoted prices, including any activation fees.
• If you don’t use auto pay, you’ll pay $5 per month per line extra.
• You must use the T-Mobile app to receive HD video; otherwise it defaults to SD video.

Verizon

Verizon may have started the latest shakeup among the Big Four with its decision to begin offering an unlimited plan in mid-February. Verizon’s deal costs $80 for the first line, $60 for a second line, and roughly $20 each for additional lines. That’s roughly $180 for four lines as a baseline price and $200 for five lines. This new unlimited data plan is available to new and current Verizon subscribers.

What They’re Not Telling You

• If you don’t sign up for auto pay and paperless billing, you’ll have to spend between $5 and $10 per month per line extra.
• A one-time activation fee per line will run you $30 (new customers only).
• Taxes and fees are not included in the quoted prices.

Final Things to Know

Finally, we have to mention a few things that may sway your decision.

• Taxes and Fees: The price points listed above do not include any taxes and fees that you’ll have to pay. T-Mobile includes all taxes and fees in its quoted cost, but the other carriers do not. Additionally, you will pay activation fees when signing up with AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint; again T-Mobile includes this fee with its quoted price. Activation fees typically are about $25-$30 per line.
• Hot Spot Support: T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint all offer support for running your smartphone as a mobile hot spot. AT&T does not. You will be limited to 10GB of data through a hot spot connection per month. After you pass that mark, your data speeds will slow considerably.
• Video Resolution: Each of the Big Four now offer HD quality video. However, you may have to turn on this feature manually (as with AT&T) or pay extra for it (as with Sprint). And the carrier may throttle you down to SD quality video after using a certain amount of data.

The cheapest service — as it has been for a while — is T-Mobile. (Unless you’re counting Sprint’s promotional pricing; then it offers the best price for now.) But each of the Big Four networks certainly has become much closer in price points and plan details with their new unlimited data plans, more similar than they’ve ever been.

However, that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to save a few dollars by shopping around … and that also means shopping around within your current carrier. Perhaps the smartest thing you can do at this point is make sure that the plan you have through your current cellular network carrier is the most cost effective one it can be. If you’re happy with your current service, just making sure you are on the right plan may save you quite a bit per month without the hassle of switching carriers.

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5 Comments

1. 

   Francis @myBread Money

   March 12, 2017 at 6:51 am

   Great post!

   If I’m going based on price and speed, T-Mobile has the best value hands down. But because of where I live, sadly I’ll have Compromise for Verizon.

   Reply
2. 

   Joseph Bossle

   March 7, 2017 at 8:58 pm

   Verizon’s unlimited plan has several other undocumented gotchas: 1) The unlimited plan is not eligible for corporate discounts. 2) Once you upgrade to the unlimited plan there is no going back to a standard GB limit based plan. 2) If you are on a GB limit based plan and down grade to a lower GB limit based plan, the only option to reverse that decision is to upgrade to the unlimited plan. Always read the fine print and ask a lot of questions before making the leap.

   Reply
   • 

     Francis @myBread Money

     March 12, 2017 at 7:12 am

     That’s a lot of important information a consumer needs to make a sound decision. Why can’t Verizon be upfront and transparent? So if you don’t ask the right question, then too bad? Not much of a customer service if you ask me.

     Reply
3. 

   Chris

   March 6, 2017 at 12:10 pm

   T-mobile is incredibly slow in some areas. I was getting less than the throttled speed for another carrier. If they oversell your area and can’t deliver anywhere near 4G speeds, it’s just too bad that you wasted your money on an unlimited plan that is simply not usable.

   Reply
   • 

     Kyle Schurman

     March 6, 2017 at 2:07 pm

     Good point – network speed and reliability is a risk to making a switch for a lower price and is something that has to be considered.

     Reply