Last week, Verizon announced the resurrection of its unlimited plan, joining the ranks of AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile which already offer similar plans.
According to a Yahoo! Finance article, the new Verizon plan is cheaper than AT&T’s and offers better coverage than the cheapest plan from T-Mobile.
I am looking to have my own phone plan sooner rather than later, so this is exciting news for me. All in all, I like Verizon’sservice in general. I have never been a customer of another company, and I don’t intend to be, but I am also concerned about what is the best deal for my broke college student lifestyle. In a world where “I don’t have any data” is a common phrase for many, the unlimited option intrigued me.
What does it actually cost though? For my purposes, I’m only concerned with the price for one line. The Yahoo! Finance article breaks it down like this: “AT&T (reserved for DirecTV and U-verse TV subscribers): $100 per month for one line. With Sprint, there are various deadlines that offer discounts, but it is generally $60 for one line. T-Mobile is $70 per month for one line and Verizon: $80 per month for one line.”
Going by the numbers only, I should choose the Sprint plan. Plain and simple, case closed, but there are some things that aren’t mentioned upfront about that plan.
Firstly, as more people use data, the network will be busy and you could be subject to slower connections and poor streaming quality because of deprioritization, which slows you and your data usage down. AT&T and Verizondeprioritize at 22 GB while Sprint sets the limit at 23 GB.
So you may be paying for an unlimited plan, but Ross, Phoebe and Rachel will be fuzzy and have choppy speech on your mobile Netflix binge.
Speaking of Netflix, these plans also affect video streaming. Verizon is the only service that allows unlimited high definition streaming. AT&Tand Sprintlimit the quality on their plans, but you can pay an extra $20 for better quality. If you do that, then all services are equal. T-Mobileupgraded its video streaming quality on Feb. 17 in an effort to keep up, I presume.
Using your phone as a hotspot is prohibited on AT&T’s plan, but you can have 5GB on Sprint’s plan. Verizon offers 10GB of LTE coverage, which drops to just 3G coverage when it is used up. So needing to send that last minute email on the go won’t be a thing if you’re with AT&T.
After thinking it through, Verizon seems like my best bet. I use my phone as a hotspot often, and I don’t mind paying a little extra for the great service I already enjoy. Not to mention, this is the plan that seems to have the least amount of strings attached to it.
All unlimited plans aren’t unlimited because of the painfully slow speeds you’ll experience once they think you’ve had too much data time. Honestly, they’re probably right, you shouldn’t spend all day on your phone, but when growing up and having to accept the necessary evils of this world, just make the right choice for you.
Myia Hambrick is a 21-year-old mass communication junior from Temple, Georgia.