There has been tons of press lately about the new unlimited
cellular plans being offered by the four major carriers, Sprint,
Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T. Verizon was the first to offer an
unlimited plan for $99.99 a couple weeks back. AT&T and T-Mobile
followed suit quickly with their own $99.99 unlimited plans. Sprint took
about ten days to announce their Simply Unlimited plan and it appears
to be the best deal out there.
Here is a quick comparison of the
unlimited cellular plans offered by Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, and
T-Mobile.
Unlimited Cellular Only
AT&T
$99.99
Sprint $89.99
T-Mobile $99.99
Verizon
Wireless $99.99
Unlimited Cellular, Text Messaging and
Picture Messaging
AT&T $119.99
Sprint $89.99
T-Mobile
$99.99
Verizon Wireless $119.99
Unlimited Cellular,
Text Messaging, Picture Messaging, Data Access, and Mobile E-mail
AT&T
$134.99
Sprint $99.99
T-Mobile $119.99
Verizon
Wireless $139.99
Family Plans for 5 lines of service with
Unlimited Cellular, Text Messaging, Picture Messaging, Data Access and
Mobile E-Mail
AT&T $674.95
Sprint $449.99
T-Mobile
$599.95
Verizon $629.99
I think Sprint made a good move by
holding off a couple days before coming in with their Simply Everything
unlimited plan. By waiting, they were able so see what the other
carriers offered and then offer something better. All the other carriers
charge extra for premium content and messaging functions but not
Sprint.
Sprint beats the competition by at least 10% in every
category. In the unlimited cellular, text messaging, picture messaging,
data access and mobile e-mail category, Sprint is able to beat Verizon
by $40 bucks. That is a huge amount on a monthly basis. Even if you had
to break your Verizon contract, by switching to Sprint, you would be
saving money after 5 months. And the family plans! $225 saving over the
AT&T monthly is amazing.
Great job Sprint!
Cricket has deals anywhere from $35-$50. The $50 charge will include text-messaging as well, but if you don't use texting you can get an excellent unlimited deal for very cheap! Cricket offers coverage most areas in the country, but not everywhere. This would not be a great package for someone who needed to travel, because Cricket can only offer coverage in other areas (besides your local area) via agreements with other carriers, which is a hassle. Roaming charges on this plan will quickly add up, creating unwanted charges on your account.
MetroPCS is another small company that purports to have limitless voice, texting, and web access all for the low price of $40/month, or $45/month if you wish to add email, navigation and social networking applications. MetroPCS is one of the latest to get on track with offering prepaid phone services, offering competitive prices in an attempt to woo users from the bigger companies. But again, like many of the smaller companies, they can only offer limited service in certain areas.
Virgin actually uses the Sprint network, but they are still able to offer an unlimited plan for $49.99. Their previous plan was $79.99, but that was just for unlimited minutes. Once you added on unlimited texting and data, the plan rounded out to $99.99, which is exactly what the big companies charge for unlimited plans. Because they faced steep competition from Boost and Cricket, they lowered their price. You will still need to buy a $19.99 unlimited texting package (if you're interested) but that still keeps the price around $70, and Virgin is fully connected to the 3G network.
Most of the big cell phone companies charge about $99.99 for unlimited plans that include unlimited minutes, texting and web access. Each company has its little perks, though. T-Mobile has a Flex-pay option that guides you along with making payments. Verizon has notably superior coverage compared to the other carriers. AT&T boasts coverage via the trendy iPhone. Sprint-Nextel has just introduced a greatly reduced monthly unlimited deal. The bonus to paying more for a contract with these companies is that the reception is always good, customer service is usually (and hopefully) helpful, and the phones are more technologically advanced.