can this be used with a family plan?

The 5GB cap is making me think about switching... I like the freedom and option of tethering if/when I may need to.

does the iphone plan have a cap?

Hey Matt, how about expanding that chart a little to cover data-only, and smartphone/blackberry/iphone specific charges?

@hi_my_name_is_bob: iphone has unlimited data (includes internet and email) and visual voice mail.

So the pink and green plans are respectively virtually the same?

@pastrychef: not sure about the others, but verizon's data plans for the phone don't allow tethering - that's an ADDITIONAL data plan.

absurd amounts of money. we pay like 79$ for 4 phones on an old alltel plan.

does tmobile's unlimited at 99 include unlimited edge? or can you atleast still do the hack like on the iphone to get the 5.99 t-zones plan meaning:

$106 a month for unlimited everything

t-mobile does not include the unlimited data with the 99 dollars BUT their unlimited data addon is only @20 for whatever usage...still comes out cheaper than others.

@kickace: Nope, voice and text only.

Unfortunately, the iPhone is not available for the unlimited plan.

Is it just me or does Apple and AT&T not get it? They need to have an unlimited iPhone plan for $99.99. Do you know how many people would buy this phone???????

Apple and AT&T... IF YOU ARE LISTENING. CRUSH THE COMPETITION AND RELEASE AN UNLIMITED IPHONE PLAN NOW!

verzion has one good point the family plan when will the others have that you have to give verizon credit for getting the other 2 to offer it.

@tutelary: For unlimited? If that 79 dollar plan is unlimited yes, you are indeed on an OLD OLD plan that probably got brought over from an acquisition of another company. Try updating your phones and you will find out you can't without switching plans! Sorry...

shit man, $99 a month, plus fees, plus tax... shit, thats about $1300 a year.

I'll stick to my standard home phone and a cell for on the go kthanx

I know they aren't considered a major carrier...but you should look at the Helio Unlimited plan as well.

@pastrychef: Its a soft limit meaning just to see who goes over board on the data. Its the same thing just a way to keep track of who is abusing it.

these plans are still too high, metro pcs gives your unlimited voice for just $35 a month & Helio gives you all of that for just $99 on a real nice 3G network, although i must say the phones are not that great

TITO, one more thing too, at least AT&T is upfront about the limit. They could just try to hide it or say it doesn't exist like comcast and then just send you a letter when you go over the limit that doesn't exist. Gotta give em credit for that.

where is t-mobile data? I have $20 unlimited blackberry internet that I use for a tethered connection almost daily... When I picked up the plan there wasn't a better deal that supported tethering.

4 phones, 2 with unlimited data (including tethering b\c they are smartphones), unlimited SMS, picture mail, etc. and the only limit is voice minutes between 9AM and 7PM.. that's $50/ phone.

and the carrier is ..... Sprint. :)

Sprint's unlimited $119 plan doesn't need a separate data plan for smartphones. The unlimited website's flagship phone is a smartphone.

They don't have different data plans for regular phones and smartphones on any plan.

If I could get unlimited voice, text, and data all for under $150 for family (2 lines ) with ATT, that would be awesome.

The Sprint Plan does not require a seperate data plan for smartphones...the only phone that requires a different data plan is the blackbeery...and see RIM cause of that..so the Sprint plan is the best no-limits

--TITO-- and LABURNS:

I give credit to Verizon who removed the 5GB soft limit.

This is all fine and good, but both Helio and MetroPCS had these carriers beat for a while now. Helio has offered a $99 AYCE plan (including voice, text and web-on-phone) for at least half-a-year now. They went up briefly, and are now back to $99. MetroPCS has also been offering $35 voice-only plan (not even voicemail) ever since entering Los Angeles, at least. Too bad Helio is teetering on the edge of extinction, while MetroPCS has horrible coverage. The one thing that pisses me off is that the family plan just doubles the monthly rate, while current plans are a small surcharge per each additional line.

Question I guess.... the $35 5gb of data on AT&T... is that for data cards?! or just plan add-ons with the unlimited voice?

@yoshi:

Do your research, Apple/ATT already offers an unlimited plan, you just have to get the 99$ unlimited and then buy the iPhone and add 40$ for the unlimited text and data (or, if you don't need text, 20$ for just unlimited data)

It's about damn time someone used the cellphone networks to just broadcast data (which they already do) and use the internet to do to phones what email did to faxing--that is, render it completely obsolete.

VoIP already exists, there are now plans that use standard phones with regular numbers which plug into a computer USB adapter, you can use chat programs to talk in real time and even send video--do we really have to pay $1300 a year for a mono speaker with lousy sound quality (compared to your average $5 set of headphones) and a microphone?!

The phone companies are robbing the masses blind and it's high time someone put them in their place. How about an unlimited wireless connection that is broadcast over the cellphone towers and can be used however you see fit. Cellphone makers can pick up the ball and build phones that work off of that. Paying additional charges for long distance, extra calls, text messaging (yeah, the 2kb really costs the phone companies an extra $10 a month...), roaming charges, connection fees, email charges, bandwidth charges, etc. is nothing more than extortion on the back of an oligopoly.

Or, if you have 4 people in your average family and you want to stay connected (as we all do) and tech savy, then go ahead and pay $4,764 a year for phone service...

I can't believe peoplke fork over $100 a month just for cellphone service. That's like $1,200 a year. And the $200 service is $2,400 a year. I don't know about you, but I can think of much better things to spend that kind of money on. Like a vacation without a cellphone.

surprise, surprise ...Verizon sucks yet again. (Verizon customer)

ya can say what ever but to me AT&T has the best plans. theres no need to get the unlimited plans from them, unless you use your phone for business or something, cause they have roll over minutes. some months i do go way over but sometimes hardly use haft of my minutes, and thats when you start to love roll over

Everyone I know is on Cingular so I did their lowest plan (I think 450 anytime minutes) and then just simply got the unlimited data plan (just data, not unlimited texts... it's like at 250 texts or so which is a lot more than I need). My bills are only about 65 dollars and I never get overages since I make calls to other Cingular customers, use 50 or so texts a month, and probably 1gb+ of data a month (it really is unlimited data, not a 5gb cap). My Sling Player streaming stuff over 3G is what takes up most of the data.

@Elliuotatar: It's mostly for business use I think. If the business is paying 50% or more of your bill then you mine as well get the best plans.

unlimited international data? Really?

What! Sprint?............................................................Sprint?

CHECK TO MAKE SURE YOUR STATE IS AVAILABLE. THIS SPRINT DEAL IS NOT AVAILABLE IN INDY AND HAVE NOT CHECKED THE OTHERS LOCALLY. AT LEAST THIS IS WHAT A SPRINT REP TOLD ME.

"$135 for unlimited voice, messaging and data, though it's capped at 5GB a month"

So that would be limited unlimited, then?

It's idiotic that it took this long for cell companies to start the unlimited price war. Both internet and landline phone services went this route years ago.

...all of which are more expensive than Helio ($99) or MetroPCS ($35-50).

Why the US/Gizmodo obsession with the major carriers (who, as businesses go, are terrible for everything from pricing to customer service to invasive business practices). There are plenty of smaller carriers out there offering far better deals.

I currently work for AT&T if anyone has questions about any of this.

Wow! $135/month! That's close to $1700/yr w/taxes! That's almost twice my auto insurance! Such a deal! (not)

no unlimited phone plan should be more than $99/month. Period.

Communication is the most important aspect of the homosapien. And we are paying for it.

@johnrhoward: Lol

Like FREE*

*after you buy this $20 thing you don't need

T-Mob: $5.99 T-Zones (WAP, mobile only, no tethering)
$19.99 Data (Tethering + Wi-Fi Hotspots)
$9.99 Talk @HOME Forever Free WiFi Phone (Voice only, requires WIFIable Cellphone)

Everthing altogether: $136 or thereabouts.

*You can probably chop off the $9.99 since you won't need talk forever for free @home stuff or something.

what is the cheapest plan for a unlimited data connection that i can tether to my macbook, or screw that is there any plan like that?

well ..I can't tether, nor is my mobile operator a real one its piggybacking on sprint but Helio gives me 3g unlimited internet access, voice, & unlimited text/mms(incl international texts) for $99.

It's still expensive though :P

Need to update the sheet. Sprint has a $99 plan that includes everything they offer, including unlimited data.

@pastrychef: Switch to Sprint and buy PDANet for about $25.00. Then you don't need a tethering plan. PDANet is compatible with Palm OS and WinMo phones and works fantastic!

I've used it with Treos, a Motorola Q, and my current Mogul without incident and have never had any problems with Sprint even when roaming.

Metro PCS has the same all you want to use plans for $35 - Unlimited Local Voice Only, $40 - Unlimited Voice Anywhere, $45 - Unlimited Voice/Text, $50 - Unlimited Voice, Text, Photo, etc.