If you think iPhones are expensive wait until you see the price of their plans.
When it comes to plan prices, Americans definitely get the short end of the stick. Take, for instance, text messaging which is charged to both the sender and the recipient and cannot be rejected. Prices have increased for individual texts over the years (they now $.20 per message, which, Wikipedia tells us, is over $1,300 per megabyte. Sweet).
Regardless of SMS woes, Verizon and AT&T are the most expensive carriers. Offering 450 minutes for $39.99 (45 cents a minute for overage) up to Unlimited minutes for $69.99.
Tack on to that price, unlimited messaging costs $20. As mentioned earlier, data ranges from pay as you go, to 10GB for $80 a month.
Fast internet speeds will necessitate Hot Spot connectivity, for those who can afford it.
Of course, if you're spending that much on data, you'll probably want a Hot Spot as well. That'll cost you an additional $20, per 2GBs of data.
That makes an average unlimited plan with no Hot Spot will set you back around $100 or more.
Unlimited data for an unlimited bank account
Sprint's talk plans are dependent on the data plan you choose. They have an unlimited "Simply Everything" plan, that runs $99.99 a month, to a 200 minute talk plan for $29.99 a month (45 cents a minute overage).
If you're keeping track, that means Sprint's "Simply Everything" plan is the only plan that actually offers you everything, and does so for much lower than AT&T and Verizon.
But, while Sprint's terms are tempting, they aren't the best. That lovely award goes to T-Mobile, which offers an unlimited plan for just $69.99 for unlimited data (throttled at 2GBs), talk and text.
If you're not satisfied with just 2GB of high speed, you can opt for a 5GB option for $79.99, which also includes unlimited everything and Mobile HotSpot service.
Family First?
While T-Mobile is the clear winner in individual plans, it's unlimited data plan is limited to two lines. That means it's perfectly possible to Frankenstein a family plan together from any carrier that might suit your needs better.
We're not going to try and analyze the pro's and con's of each, so make sure you check out the options, at the respective sites if you're interested in Family Plans.
Verdict
While T-Mobile's plan won't work for everyone, it's simply the cheapest individual everything plan you're going to find.
