I’ve had unlimited data since I got my first feature phone, a Samsung Instinct on Sprint. I have no desire to go back to a limited plan. Carriers have a long history of limiting their unlimited plans to curb data usage. Some carriers compressed images in the days of 3G, while many modern plans use video streaming quality limits and high-speed data caps. Most plans list the high-speed cap in their plan details or FCC broadband labels. Still, I wouldn’t blame someone for expecting a plan called unlimited actually to be unlimited.
How do carriers prevent excessive data use?
Someone has to pay for all that data
While prioritization can keep the network running smoothly, even a prepaid carrier like Ultra Mobile can get download speeds over 1Gbps. Two main ways of reducing the overuse of a cheap unlimited plan have become the most common: a high-speed data cap and lower 5G data speeds. For example, a carrier like Google Fi has two unlimited plans, but both have a data cap that, when passed, leads to a strict speed limit until the end of the month.
Others, like Visible, limit the connection speed. The base Visible plan is limited to nationwide 5G speeds. You can check Visible’s broadband labels to get an idea of this limit. Visible’s higher-end Visible+ plans are estimated from 195Mbps to 634Mbps on the top plan and 35Mbps to 143Mbps on the base plan. Verizon’s postpaid Unlimited Welcome has a similar restriction compared to the rest of its plans. AT&T offers a high-speed add-on for its top consumer plans called AT&T Turbo.
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The big question is, would you notice this difference in day-to-day usage? If you compare the plans side-by-side, you might. However, it isn’t a big deal for most people.
I prefer Visible’s setup since you can use as much data as you want, but you’ll wait a little longer for large downloads. With a high-speed data cap, such as the 40GB limit on Mint Mobile’s unlimited plan, it doesn’t feel like an unlimited plan. As our usage needs increase in the future, we hope this number increases to keep up. This isn’t exclusive to mobile carriers. Big ISPs like Xfinity still have a 1.2TB data cap, which is a lot unless you stream a lot of video, such as using YouTube TV. Perhaps it’s only a coincidence that Xfinity has internet limits that make it hard to use a TV provider other than itself.
The worst part of high-speed data limits is that many carriers slow down the data so much that if you use it all, the connection becomes unusable apart from messaging. Boost Mobile and Mint Mobile slow unlimited customers to 512Kbps, which is slower than 3G. Others, like US Mobile, are better at 1Mbps, but that puts a decent video streaming experience out of reach and makes browsing feel sluggish. These speeds make Visible’s lower data speeds look downright quick.
How else do carriers limit data usage?
Does HD video matter on a six-inch screen?
Even if you have a plan that doesn’t limit your speed or has a high-speed data cap, your data is managed somehow. One common way is to limit streaming video quality. Many lower-end plans limit video quality to 480p by implementing a 1.5Mbps limit when accessing common streaming apps like YouTube or Netflix.
If your plan has HD streaming, it’s likely turned off by default, so you must go into your account settings to get the full data speeds you pay for. You can see if your data is limited using a speed test app called Fast on the Play Store. This app is made by Netflix, so you can see if your connection to Netflix’s servers is being throttled.
The best Android phones have impressive displays, so you can see a big difference between SD and HD-quality videos. If you can toggle on HD streaming, you may be able to use a VPN to get past this video limit.
It was more common to see plans with an actual data speed cap in the past. For example, Visible and Cricket Wireless previously had speed caps, though both carriers have since ditched them. Still, this method is common overseas, with many cheap European SIMs having a low top speed.
Carriers are starting to come around
Fast 5G is helping drive these limits out
I believe that many of these fake unlimited data plans, as MobileX used to call its unlimited plans, are on the way out. While 5G’s expansion has been slower and less impressive than promised, it added a ton of capacity to wireless networks, making this kind of limit less important. We’ve seen Ultra Mobile ditch limits on its unlimited plans, and MobileX upgraded its unlimited plan to 199GB, which is plenty for most people.
Carriers need to pay for the data customers use in one way or another, and most people only use a few gigabytes in a month. In my opinion, people who underuse their unlimited plans should be the buffer for heavier users and shouldn’t be used to justify what I can only describe as a misleading use of the word “unlimited.”
