The Hidden Limitations of “Unlimited” Plans

There’s a trend in the market today of big-name carriers offering “unlimited” data plans that seem like the perfect answer for heavy internet users. Promises of never-ending data may sound great, but before you answer the siren call of data without limits, be sure to take a closer look at what you’ll really get.

Data may be unlimited, but speeds are not guaranteed

While many carriers offer “unlimited” data to a certain extent, their plans are filled with a lot of asterisks and if/when scenarios that will affect the quality of your service. Only a certain amount of data per month is guaranteed to be delivered at 4G LTE speeds.  As of March 1, 2017, Verizon / AT&T caps it at 22 gigabytes; T-Mobile at 28 gigabytes. After you go over your 4G LTE cap, you are eligible to be “deprioritized” for the remainder of your billing cycle and your connection reduced to “3G speeds.” Depending on how much streaming or data-consuming work you do from your home or office, this could result in a week or two of streamlined internet speeds at the top of your billing cycle, followed by weeks of frustratingly slower connectivity.