After T-Mobile reintroduced unlimited data plans last year, all major carriers in the United States were forced to follow suit. However, those plans aren’t like the original plans that were introduced when first smartphones started hitting the market. All of the new plans feature a speed cap so once users hit a predetermined amount of data, the companies can slow down their connection speeds when their networks are under heavy load. However, there’s still an online black market for unlimited data plans of old, though these plans aren’t cheap by any means.
Most of the old plans can be found on websites like Ebay and Craigslist, but those looking to purchase them will have to part with between $2,000 and $3000, which is a hefty fee to pay for a data plan in advance. Naturally, the upfront fee isn’t the only price you have to pay as you will still have to continue paying the monthly subscription fee, as evidenced by one listing offering a truly unlimited AT&T plan. The listing in question requires users to already have an AT&T SIM card and be willing to never change the plan as they will likely lose its truly unlimited feature in that scenario. The actual process of getting the plan is rather simple. After you’ve made your purchase, the seller will contact AT&T to initiate the transfer. Sellers can also give their login info so that you can change the billing info yourself without sharing it with them.
Currently, the unlimited plans from the largest wireless carriers in the country are relatively comparable in terms of pricing and benefits. For one single line, all four offer HD streaming and 10GB of hotspot data with Verizon and AT&T throttling data after 22GB. On the other hand, AT&T also offers DIRECTV NOW discounts for $90 per month while Verizon’s plan is priced at $80 per month. T-Mobile offers no additional benefits and throttles its customers at 32GB for $70 a month. Sprint throttles its users at 23GB in exchange for a monthly fee of $50. On the other hand, if you have money on hand and all you care about is having truly unlimited data, you may want to consider investing into one of these old plans.