T-Mobile, Verizon Launch Ultra-Affordable Unlimited Plans — Which Is Right for You?
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Both Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile this week took the wraps off their latest and most affordable pre-paid “unlimited” plan offerings, giving would-be switchers and first-time subscribers a unique opportunity to hop aboard either of America’s fastest and highest-rated mobile networks for an unbeatable price.
First up is Verizon, who on Tuesday announced a selection of new pre-paid plans that are more competitive with offerings from AT&T and Sprint.
Effective immediately, Verizon’s pre-paid mobile plans start at just $30 per month, while topping out at $65, instead of $75 per month, previously.
The notable changes, as outlined in the chart below, were made to Verizon’s top-tier plans, where a new $45 option (offering unlimited talk, text, and 8GB of data per month) usurps the original $50 per month option, which included just 7GB of data.
Similarly, Big Red dropped its original unlimited plan from $75 down to just $65/month, which offers unlimited talk, text and LTE data.
Additional lines can be added to each pre-paid plan, with discounts ranging from $10 to $20 per line, Verizon says.
What About T-Mobile?
As we’ve seen so many times in the past when wireless carriers introduce new lower-cost or limited-time offers on their products and service, Verizon’s new offerings were quickly (and strategically) undercut by T-Mobile — one of its fiercest competitors in the U.S. mobile market.
The Magenta carrier on Wednesday introduced a new “limited-time” offer for those looking to save even more money over Verizon.
Specifically, T-Mo’s new pre-paid unlimited plan offering undercuts Verizon’s by a fair margin, giving users unlimited talk, text and LTE data for just $50 per month — an impressive $15 per month, and $180 per year in savings, over the comparable Verizon plan.
Conclusions
Both plans come with their fair share of caveats and restrictions — such as Verizon’s offer being contingent upon a $5/month discount with mandatory auto-pay enrollment, or T-Mobile’s reversion to 2G data speeds for users who exceed (a very, very generous) 50 GB of LTE usage in a single billing period.
It’s unclear as of this write-up how long T-Mobile’s new “limited-time” unlimited offering will be available — but there’s certainly no denying it’s a much better value, dollar per dollar, then Verizon’s plan.
Still, while both plans offer consumers looking for the best wireless service at the most affordable price attractive options; you’ll be best served by scoping out the offerings via Verizon and T-Mobile directly to see which works best in your area.
