A Comparison of US iPhone Data Plans

[jlgolson]

Two things I'd like to see happen: Shared data for family plans. And rollover data like rollover minutes.
You want me to pay for data that I end up not using all of, let me roll it over to next month.

Shared data for family plans is in the works -- http://allthingsd.com/20120109/atts-de-la-vega-shared-data-plans-still-in-the-works/

 

[Surreal]

Actually, what we need is a carrier who doesn't subsidize phones. We need a carrier only interested in profiting from plans and making plans appealing without the need to recoup subsidies.

 

[bad03xtreme]

I still can't decide who to go with when I get an iPhone. Everyone I know has Verizon so I don't use any minutes but I want the most data for my money.

 

[JTToft]

This is absolutely ridiculous. I pay $44 a month for 10 GB of data (practically unlimited), 18 hours of talk-time and unlimited SMS and MMS. And it isn't even possible to sign a contract without free tethering in Denmark.

 

[ncbill]

For heavy data users, T-Mobile now offers a $30/month prepaid plan w/ 5GB/month 4G data (then throttled to 2G).

Unlimited texts, but only 100 voice minutes.

It's what I picked (plus an inexpensive Android phone with built-in hotspot)

And I use GrooveIP (VOIP that uses your Google Voice account) for voice calling - w/ 5GB of data it's essentially unlimited minutes.

Dear T-Mobile promoter:

- Buying unlocked means paying $450 more (plus tax). That equals to 2 years of about $20 per month extra. Or about $26 per month higher cost if you update your phone every 18 months.
- T-Mobile US only offers EDGE speed for standard GSM devices
- T-Mobile has much weaker coverage than AT&T / Verizon
- 30MB of data

So you are paying $50 per month for voice with 30MB of data at EDGE speed. What a joke.

 

[crees!]

Tethering Costs Are Absurd

I'm sure others have mentioned this and it needs to be strongly conveyed by us all to the carriers too. And that is, we pay for a data plan and there are automatic additional fees if we exceed our paid limit. How we consume that data should not be discriminated against. With the base data plan, I should be able to turn on mobile hotspot on my phone and use an iPad or any other device any time I want. If I exceed my plan limit, however the data is used, the additional fees auto kick in and that is expected and accepted. This tells me the real reason telcos are charging extra to use an already built in feature of the phone is just to nickel and dime their customers.

 

[TNTNeil]

Sprint vs Verrizon

I still can't decide who to go with when I get an iPhone. Everyone I know has Verizon so I don't use any minutes but I want the most data for my money.

With Sprint you still don't use minutes when talking with your friends and family on Verrizon since with Sprint you have unlimited calling to ALL mobile numbers no matter the carrier. Your data is unlimited, but from what I gather slower. Still worth it for me to have the unlimited mobile and unlimited data. Plus coverage here (in the Rockie Mountains) is same as Verizon as they share towers.

 

[Tiger8]

Looks like you have a mistake. Sprint doesn't offer unlimited data for $30/month. The cheapest option for that is on one of their "Everything Data" plans, which start at $69.99.

EDIT: I see now where you're getting this. That price point is derived from their basic plan options that don't include data. Problem is, you can't get an iPhone on any of those plans. iPhones will only be activated to an Everything Data plan ($69.99-89.99/mo. depending on minutes) or Simply Everything ($99.99/mo.).

You can't get an iPhone on either Verizon OR AT&T unless you sign up for the data plan, it is not optional. so how is this different from sprint?

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I still can't decide who to go with when I get an iPhone. Everyone I know has Verizon so I don't use any minutes but I want the most data for my money.

If you have good coverage, Sprint. All of Sprint's plans include unlimited mobile to mobile, I barely go through 100 minutes of the 450 included minutes since majority of my calls are to cell phones, and those are free

 

[Billy Boo Bob]

People should be given phone numbers for life at birth like Social Security numbers. Then it wouldn't matter if you wanted to switch carriers, go a few months without service, get a prepaid sim card with minutes that don't expire, and there would be a few great tethering apps.

Wouldn't capitalism be great if it worked the way it was supposed to?

There's no way I would want one single phone number "assigned" to me that way. I like the option to change my phone number if need be. And in the past it has needed to be.