Weekend Open Forum: Fair price for unlimited wireless data?

Wireless carriers tend to be among the worst when it comes to consumer friendlyness. At least that has been my experience with four or five providers in three different countries -- whether it's expensive data plans, restrictive and lengthy contracts,...

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Verizon Wireless. 50$/mo., 4GB cap. Never even come close to it, but got in on a deal so it's the same price I would have to spend on 2GB, so I'll keep it. Rarely do I make use of data except for GPS, looking up occasional things.

Realistically, can't complain, but I'm at my limit for paying for data. Verizon has so many other ways to get five bucks here and there out of customers, I'm lucky I can do without those things (e.g. charging 5 bucks a month in order to block more than five numbers from harassing me, or any number for longer than 90 days, when I damn well know Verizon is the one selling my number to the highest bidder in the first place. We're going to rumble on this, sooner or later, I know.).

I've read so many articles on wireless data and networks costs I could write a goddamn dissertation on it. Still, I can't give a fair price on unlimited data. Verizon gets screwed by the likes of Samsung and Motorola and Apple in subsidizing these handsets in the first place, so they need to recoup somewhere. Plus, network competition spurs innovation, which is desperately needed, so I'm happy to fuel the market. But I know they are raking in huge margins, and the cost of entry to any wireless provider is astronomical.

In the end, I'm happy to see tmobile shaking things up, and I suspect that unlimited data will eventually shake out around fifty bucks a month. Just give it a few years. I'm much more pissed about my ISP capping my data at 250GB. Eff that noise.

Fair? right?

u r r3ducula55

come to EU and pay the prise they want
then we will talk

Sprint $80/month including insurance. I get everyting and there is no monthly cap on my internet use. I feels that how they charge for text messagagin is the the robbery of the century. Now that im reading this I will look in to changing my plan.

60£/M for 60MB/S speed and unlimited data usage + unlimited phone calls + Virgin XL TV package. Not too bad, the internet speed is insane.

Whatever T-Mo and Sprint charge for unlimited is what I'll consider fair.

We got straight talk from Walmart. $45 a month unlimited everything (advertised) but in reality heard its caped at 2gb. But still a better deal than the big guys. Uses AT&T towers.

Virgin mobile - Unlimited data - sprint network - 1200 minutes a month - unlimited texting - 45 a month.

My android phone cost me 50 bucks on sale two weeks ago and is available for a *cost* from Verizon for a an extra fee with new service - to get the same plan would be over 50 bucks more a month from the V.

Oh and if I ended my contract early... V would charge me 400+ for the phone to leave the contract. If I got the phone (with no contract, and no plan commitment) for 50 bucks straight up - how the heck do you think that V is 'subsidizing' the phone. Seriously I think they sell that line as a way to make you feel guilty while they take the money from your back pocket.

And yes... my 'unlimited' is only 2.5 gb unthrottled - but it *doesn't* turn off if I go over and it also *doesn't* charge me more money automatically - two features that I consider a *must* for any data plan regardless of the cap/throttle.

The big players are raking in money hand over fist and laughing all the way to the bank.

I'm still grandfathered in on At&t's unlimited data plan for $30/month. I did hear rumors that this will be axed soon. I use as much data as possible (6GB/month sometimes) to get what I pay for.

It will eventually be free. The US government will want a camera in every pocket and provide it like food stamps.

Republicwireless.com $20 a month. Unlimited talk text and data. No caps, no throttling.

You'll be throttled to EDGE speed if you go over somewhere between 2.5 and 3gb. Annoyingly, they instituted these limits a few months before they boosted the 3G speed in my area. If they hadn't set this threshold I would actually have reasonable Internet now: wireless is the only option where I live. With that in mind, I would gladly pay $75/mth for 250kbs down without throttling or caps. That's just <I>data</I> I'm talking about - I'd pay extra for my phone service. At least 30 million Americans have no access to wired broadband (and some estimates are closer to 40 million). The first carrier that rolls out unlimited service with reasonable speed will have a captive market waiting. If I was Sprint, I'd be getting some towers up a few miles beyond the reach of cable or DSL..so far AT&T and Verizon seem to have little interest in rural areas.

Sprint. Unlimited data with 450 anytime minutes: $80/month. Is that a fair price? I can't say. It's the best price I can find in my local market. My only gripe is that there's a $10 add-on fee in there for 4G (they say it's for "premium data", but that $10 tack-on has always been for the 4G), and Sprint doesn't have 4G here ... or anywhere that I normally travel. They're forcing me to pay for a service that they cannot provide, which I resent.

The good part of the plan is that all cell-to-cell calls, regardless of carrier, are part of the package. They do not come out of the 450 minutes. And I never have to think twice about my data usage -- if I want to surf, e-mail, or text, I never have to worry about going over a limit. I don't stream with my phone, so I've never gotten close to the point where Sprint might start to throttle me.

Coverage is good, speed is excellent. It's nice to have a backup on the rare occasion that my home internet (cable) goes out. All in all, the base monthly fee of $70 seems reasonable to me for what I'm getting out of it. It's only the $10 add-on that seems unfair to me.

O2 are worst - used to advertise unlimited data on PayandGo for £10 top-up a month (capped at 0.5GB usage limit)!

$40 month, unlimited calling and data, w00t!

I switched from sprint to Verizon because the coverage is spotty and 4G is slow. I notice that my family of 4 doesnt use more than 1.8 GB, so I brought it down from 4GB to 2GB

I pay $10/month for unlimited access and the average speed is 35kbps (sometimes may jot to 86kbps) for download and 17kbps for upload. I think it's pretty good deal for daily mobile Internet usage.

I pay 40$ a month with virgin mobile for 350 talk, unlimited text and 2gig data cap(then it slows). And insurance with a 25$ fee for phone replacement, verizons fee was like 100-150$. My phone cost me about 170$ 5 months ago from the virgin site no discount, droid something or other you get what you pay for, has the latest os, looks slick, can load any app and has a decent camera. I can usually load a youtube video just fine and stream it without waiting. However I'm not near a big city so I have disconnected\temp loss of volume calls inside my house. Matter of fact I nearly always head straight out the door when my phone starts to ring just in case.

For 40$ a month grand total its not to bad, but god damnit I can barely use my phone in the house! No contract, I pay monthly and when I move closer to a big city my reception will be fine.

When I had verizon I used a texting app but still had a 90-110$ a month bill, thats just to much for me right now.

45/month (54 with tax) straight talk, unlimited everything. at&t towers.
I never go over 2gig/month anyway.

I pay $185 a month with taxes for my unlimited data grandfathered in on my galaxy Note and daughters Iphone 4S with 3Gb plan with unlimited text for both and parental controls, roadside assistance fees and 700 mins shared voice on AT&T. I think its about right for 2 high end phones.