![]() ![]() Its old unlimited plan started at $75.Īnd both carriers said they intended to phase out the remainder of their data-limited plans sooner or later (T-Mobile said it would start next month for new customers, while Sprint wasn’t as specific). Sprint went even lower, offering its unlimited plan for $60 to $160. A prior unlimited plan ranged from $95 for an individual customer to $280 for four lines. ![]() T-Mobile’s new plan started at $70 for one line and went up to $160 for four lines. Both T-Mobile (TMUS) and Sprint (S) introduced new, cheaper-than-ever unlimited data plans. Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.īut slowly unlimited plans have been coming back, and this week they nearly took over the entire scene. Carriers, as they explain over and over again, own a limited amount of spectrum, or airwave licenses, thus limiting capacity for customer data usage. And AT&T and other carriers phased out unlimited data plans starting about six years ago.įor most of the years since, mobile industry executives have explained that unlimited plans just don’t make economic sense for the carriers, especially as simply surfing the Internet has expanded into all manner of apps, realtime driving directions, streaming music and video, and online games. ![]() Two-year contracts and subsidized phones are almost gone. Monthly limits on voice and texting are long gone. Whatever reasons they gave years ago for why unlimited data plans had to go just sound like BS in hindsight.In the almost 10 years since, wireless plans have evolved and morphed almost beyond recognition. Well, clearly the carriers have sorted it out and can make money now, or else unlimited plans wouldn't be back. "You cannot make money on an unlimited video world," Shammo said. Having access to more data is now a necessity, thanks to the rise of video streaming, live broadcasting, music streaming, Snapchat, and all of the other apps and services that suck down more data than ever beforeĪ few reasons carriers used to justify killing unlimited plans after making the switch from 3G to 4G LTE networks included a fear of network congestion and an inability to make enough money to maintain the infrastructure. People don't just want unlimited data plans, but a lot of people need them in order to keep up with new data-heavy lives. "At the end of the day, people don't need unlimited plans," former Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said (Opens in a new tab) at an investor conference in 2015.Īs this week's unlimited data plan announcements showed, Shammo couldn't have been more wrong. If AT&T is banking on customers being too lazy or dumb to turn off Stream Saver in order to reduce data usage and decrease network congestion, maybe its network just isn't good enough to support unlimited data. By default, the "Stream Saver" feature is switched on, which means unless you turn it off your videos will be downscaled to 480p resolution. WTF AT&T?Īlso, AT&T's being super shady about the HD video streaming. Every other carrier offers 10GB of hotspot data for tethering your devices. As you can see, while AT&T offers similar features compared to its rivals (22GB of data at 4G LTE speed before you see throttled speeds during network congestion), unlimited video streaming at HD resolution and unlimited calling and texting, it's missing one key feature: mobile hotspot data. ![]()
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