How do you use your cell phone? If your answer includes streaming music, watching videos or using your device a Wi-Fi hot spot, it’s time to consider an unlimited data plan.
Streaming just 30 minutes of video a day, whether via YouTube, Netflix, ESPN or Facebook, adds up to more than 5GB of data a month. Jam out to tunes on Spotify or from your iCloud for an hour or two each day and you’re looking at another 2GB to 4GB of data usage for the month.
That’s close to 9GB a month, before you even factor in standard smartphone use, such as checking email or browsing social media. And if you use your phone as a mobile hot spot, which lets you connect other devices (such as a laptop or tablet) to your phone’s high-speed data connection, you can quickly burn through a dozen or more gigabytes in a billing cycle.
When you hit double-digit data usage, a cellphone plan with unlimited data is often your best bet. Keep reading to find the best unlimited data plans available, whether you’re looking for a solo plan, a family plan or a prepaid plan.
Just keep in mind that no plan is truly unlimited. All of the unlimited data plans out there cap high-speed data usage at 23GB. If you hit that threshold, your usage may be “deprioritized,” that is, slowed considerably. So connect to Wi-Fi when you can to conserve your data.
Best unlimited data plan: Sprint Unlimited Talk, Texts and Data
- Monthly price: $70
- Minutes/texts: Unlimited
- Data: Unlimited
- Mobile hot spot allowance: 3GB
- Activation fee: $36
Why we like it:
Sprint’s unlimited data plan is a great value for heavy data users. Customers get virtually endless data for less than the cost of 6GB with Verizon or 10GB with T-Mobile. It isn’t the best deal out there, though. That distinction goes to Boost Mobile (see below), a prepaid carrier that uses Sprint’s network.
Mobile hot spot usage on Sprint’s unlimited plan is capped at 3GB, which can disappear in a flash if you connect another device. You’ll pay $15 per gigabyte for any hot spot data usage beyond that, so avoid using your phone for Wi-Fi on other devices. Or consider a plan with a larger hot spot allowance.
If data devotion runs in the family, you can add additional lines to your plan for $60 per month per line.
Best prepaid unlimited data plan: Boost Mobile
- Monthly price: $60
- Minutes/texts: Unlimited
- Data: Unlimited
- Mobile hot spot allowance: None
- Activation fee: $0
Why we like it:
With Boost Mobile, customers get unlimited data for $10 less per month than with Sprint, while still using Sprint’s nationwide network. They also avoid taxes, fees and any longterm ties to the carrier. The downsides: The plan doesn’t include mobile hot spot, and you have to pay retail price for your phone. An iPhone 6 will run you close to $450 with Boost Mobile, and a Samsung Galaxy S6 costs nearly $650. If you have a phone through Sprint, though, you may be able to activate it with Boost.
Best unlimited data plan for mobile hot spot users: T-Mobile Unlimited Simple Choice
- Monthly price: $95
- Minutes/texts: Unlimited
- Data: Unlimited
- Mobile hot spot allowance: 14GB
- Activation fee: $35 plus $15 for a “SIM Starter Kit”
Why we like it:
Sometimes, you just need Wi-Fi. Fast Wi-Fi. This plan includes 14GB of mobile hot spot data each month. That’s enough to listen to Pandora for 80 minutes each day while firing off hundreds of emails and surfing the Web to your heart’s content, with room to spare to download a few attachments. If you exceed your hot spot data allowance, you’ll suffer through crawling data speeds until your billing cycle resets.
Kelsey Sheehy is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: ksheehy@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @KelseyLSheehy.
Image via iStock.
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