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“Unlimited” is a funny term. Unlimited cell phone plans often come with a long list of footnotes, terms, conditions, and exceptions. Fortunately, all three of the big cell phone companies have now ditched the cap on their top-paid tiers and are including 5G data access in all of their unlimited plans. Yet there are still many differences in the services they offer, and from one level to another within each company.
Cheaper “unlimited” tiers offer unlimited calls and texts. But they still have rules about how much unlimited data you get before they start throttling your speed, and some “unlimited” plans can throttle your data at any time. Data throttling involves reducing the speed of your data after reaching a certain threshold of data used in a month or during periods of congestion. It’s been a part of cell service plans for years.
Below, I’ve highlighted what each of the major carriers offers for “unlimited” individual and family plans to help you determine which unlimited plan is best for you and your budget.
The best unlimited plan of the moment: the T-Mobile experience
T-Mobile Essentials, Experience Plus and Experience Beyond Plans
The Essentials package (with automatic payment, taxes/fees not included): 1 line for $60/month | 2 lines $90 | 3 lines $90 | 4 lines $100 | 5 lines $125
Find out more (with automatic payment, taxes/fees not included): 1 line for $85/month | 2 lines $140 | 3 lines $140 | 4 lines $170 | 5 lines $200
Experience Beyond (with automatic payment, taxes/fees not included): 1 line for $100/month | 2 lines $170 | 3 lines $170 | 4 lines $215 | 5 lines $260
T-Mobile has the best 5G coverage among the big three, the highest 5G speeds, the fastest downloads and the best overall reliability, according to analysis from Open signal And Ookla. The carrier also claims to win in terms of value, when you factor in perks like entertainment packages, on-plane Wi-Fi, and access to satellite data in case of emergency.
T-Mobile rebranded its unlimited plans this year, but still offers three unlimited talk and text plans: Essentials, Experience More, and Experience Beyond. Only the two Experience plans offer true unlimited 5G data without any throttling or deprioritization (i.e. your phone queues for data behind other, larger phones during peak demand.)
If the cost is more important to you than the benefits and you don’t travel abroad a lot, the Essentials Package This is what we recommend for people with large families. It’s no frills, just the phone, ma’am, with no subscription money paid to streaming services or international carrier fees. Your hotspot is limited to 3G speeds if you’re a laptop warrior, an important consideration for many, and video streaming is 480p. But at its price point, Essentials is the only plan to offer premium data (up to 50 GB) which will not be limited. If you have Wi-Fi at home, that 50GB should be enough for most people. Additionally, this will teach your teens how to budget and how to ask for the WiFi password instead of using their own data. But be careful: data in Canada and Mexico will be so slow that you might as well have an old flip phone.
