Unlimited phone plans

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Pringals

Gawd
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Nov 27, 2004
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Curious to know how unlimited are cell phone plans? If you wanted, could you stream movies/music 24/7? (No "tethering", just the phone.) Considering getting the Note 2 and an unlimited plan and was just curious of any limitations even though they claim "unlimited". My current phone/plan is at least 4-5 years old (Razr2), so I'm due and looking to go big! :cool:
 
The T-Mobile plan is truely unlimited, atleast none have found the limit I know of (T-Mo advertises it as straight up fully unlimited no throttling at all , however you cannot add teathering)

Sprint's from what ive read is truely unlimited as well, however that assumes you can get full speed from them (that is area dependent)

ATT/VZW dont offer it anymore

Straight Talk - Their unlimited = 2GB

MetroPCS - No real limit I know of , ive got a co worker that has them and has passed 20/25 GB in a month with no issue.
 
Straight Talk's TOS forbids any audio/video streaming, and any use of the network that was not built-into the phone (IE, no apps). I've heard conflicting reports on how much data people get away with, but the conventional wisdom has been no more than 100mb/day, or 2gb/month. There are people who claim to have used 3-4GB/month without repercussions.

T-Mobile's prepaid plans all claim unlimited (except the 30mb plan), with varying degrees of throttling. One throttles after 100mb, another after 2Gb, and the most expensive plan does truly unlimited 4G...for now.
 
I should rephrase what I said -

My T-Mo statements were based on their recently announced CONTRACT plan (Offered on normal, Classic, and Value IIRC)

However T-Mo does have "unlimited" pre-paid, where as Medion said, they have one that throttles at 100mb, 2GB, 5GB(the $30 a month), but I dont think they have a truly unlimited Pre-paid option
 
In March/April of this year I used 57gigs of 3G data on Sprint.

Sprint network performance in Sacramento are poor in my experience, though there are places that WiMax was connected and got ~2MB down (highest ever achieved was 9MB at a random KFC).
 
W.Feather said:
I should rephrase what I said -

My T-Mo statements were based on their recently announced CONTRACT plan (Offered on normal, Classic, and Value IIRC)

However T-Mo does have "unlimited" pre-paid, where as Medion said, they have one that throttles at 100mb, 2GB, 5GB(the $30 a month), but I dont think they have a truly unlimited Pre-paid option
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You're right, the top one is 5GB.

Simple Mobile (currently uses T-Mo towers) also has an "unlimited" plan. Seems to cap out at 1GB.

The problem with these MVNOs are that they pay for an allotment from one of the big four. This means that they really cannot offer you more than the big four. They advertise unlimited everything because most of the people who go for their plans can't afford the higher end plans, and thus, cannot afford a $500+ unlocked phone capable of launching nuclear missiles :) Bottom line is, they're going for the low-hanging fruit, and power users like use get kicked off because we are not even close to being profitable.

As far as I know, there is no pre-paid truly unlimited offering, with T-Mobile coming the closest.
 
if you got grandfathered in on verizon it limits you to 5gb a month then throttles you

Though i have not done so with my galaxy s3 yet... Humm perhaps ill leave wifi off on it for a while...
 
Lunas said:
if you got grandfathered in on verizon it limits you to 5gb a month then throttles you

Though i have not done so with my galaxy s3 yet... Humm perhaps ill leave wifi off on it for a while...
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Their TOS reserves the right to throttle you at 5GB. I haven't personally seen it, and before jumping ship, I capped at 27GB in one month.
 
I have used up to 90 gigs on my sprint 3g data card and I have never had an issue regardless how much I use it.
 
All of T-Mobile's prepaid data offerings have a set limit and then throttling after that.

For post-paid, T-Mobile has recently outed an unlimited plan with no throttling. You can add a tiered tethering package on top of it, but not unlimited. You could try 3rd party tethering tools though.

Even if you bring your own unsubsidized device to T-Mobile and use that truly unlimited post-paid data option, you will still be placed on a contract with an ETF. :(
 
Thanks for all the input. Its what I figured. My work no longer allows us to stream Pandora, so I hope to be able to stream it via a phone plan to get me through the long work days so sick of all the same crap on the radio and whats in my ipod. I'd also like to keep up with some shows such as NCIS or Supernatural while at the gym on the treadmill. Most likely will never touch the peaks of an unlimited plan, especially with wi-fi becoming common place everywhere, but was just curious what was actually meant by "unlimited".
 
still stands, the best / only options for unlimited is Sprint or T-Mo
 
Medion said:
Straight Talk's TOS forbids any audio/video streaming, and any use of the network that was not built-into the phone (IE, no apps). I've heard conflicting reports on how much data people get away with, but the conventional wisdom has been no more than 100mb/day, or 2gb/month. There are people who claim to have used 3-4GB/month without repercussions.
Click to expand...

I was just reading through Straighttalks TOS and I do not see anything regarding this\

EDIT: I think I found what you were referring to, but this seems to be for illegal material such as TV streams or P2P activity.

". The Straight Talk Unlimited Plans MAY NOT be used for any other purpose. Examples of prohibited uses include, without limitation, the following: (i) continuous mobile to mobile or mobile to landline voice calls; (ii) automated text or picture messaging to another mobile device or e-mail address; (iii) uploading, downloading or streaming of audio or video programming or games; (iv) server devices or host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, automated machine-to-machine connections or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing; or (v) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections. This means, by way of example only, that checking email, surfing the Internet, downloading legally acquired songs, and/or visiting corporate intranets is permitted, but downloading movies using P2P file sharing services and/or redirecting television signals for viewing on laptops is prohibited. A person engaged in prohibited uses may have his/her service terminated without notice or a refund.
"
 
Actually, as per reports on Android Forums, Sprints "Unlimited" plan is not really unlimited, they will terminate your contract if you hit 100gb/month, ...but I don't think any of us can complain about that cap on a phone :p

I used to regularly use 10-20gb/month on my sprint phone (tethered) and never got any questions
 
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