If you’re tired of having to connect your cellphone to the Wi-Fi of every single place that you visit, you may want to look into an unlimited data plan. These plans, whether they be on a long-term deal or as a prepaid option, tend to be the most expensive ones that each wireless service provider offers. At the same time they are meant to be the ones that you can get the most out of as a user.
Technically you won’t have to ever connect to the Wi-Fi because you don’t really care about the data that you use. It’s unlimited, after all, right? Well, yes and no, there are different policies that wireless service providers run around this concept. It’s very important for you to know what the limits to the coverage are, even though it says unlimited.
It’s important to point out here that to reach, let’s say, the “limits” of unlimited plans, you’re going to have to use a ton of data per day. That’s one of the problems with the entire situation. Some people may be better suited with a limited plan with enough data that they can spend less money on. Families that can add four lines or more to their long term deals are going to be getting the best rates for unlimited data plans. If it’s just you in the plan, then the rates are typically going to be absurdly high.
Are Unlimited Plans Really Unlimited?
The main issue with unlimited plans is that not all of them are created equal. That applies to long-term plans or even unlimited data on prepaid deals that you can get, for example, when you go abroad. The terms and conditions in each situation can be different. Knowing that we’d say that it makes perfect sense to read the fine print, particularly if you’re getting into a long term contract.
What are the common issues with unlimited plans that make them “not so unlimited?” There’s usually a cap on the speed of your connection that’s set on a daily or monthly limit. What does that mean? That means that if you use up more than X number of GB in a month or in a day, the speed at which you can surf the web and download things is going to drop off.
In some situations, unlimited plans can feature speed caps on both daily and monthly limits. What wireless service providers tend to allow you to do is pay an extra fee in order to get back to your regular speeds. We see that very commonly with the international day passes that most of the popular American wireless service providers run. Now, these passes tend to offer more speed rather than coverage.
We can pretty much guarantee that any unlimited plan that you can find out there has some type of cap written in the fine print. That doesn’t mean that this is a bad thing. Some of the unlimited plans start to drop off when you reach 5 or 10 GB used up per day. That’s an incredible amount of data. You’d have to be on the phone 24/7 with multiple apps open to reach this. Then again, if you’re working out of your phone on a daily basis, you could be hitting those markers.
Speed Isn’t Guaranteed Everywhere
Just because the data is unlimited doesn’t mean that you’re going to have the best coverage everywhere you go. Sometimes, you can be fooled into buying an unlimited data plan on a small network for little money. You may not think too much of it. Most of the networks that run in the country are going to have decent coverage almost everywhere … right?
That’s actually not true at all! Sure, you’re usually going to be okay in the big cities. If you’re only going to be using your coverage in those areas, then you can be more comfortable just price shopping. If you live or visit a rural area often, then you’re probably going to at least want to take a second look at the coverage map before you get into a long-term contract.
Remember that unlimited plans don’t guarantee coverage. That means that sometimes it makes sense to pay a little extra for your unlimited plan if you know that you’re going to have a wider coverage range. As mentioned, this may not seem like a big deal to some users, and they may be right. If you know, though, that you don’t tend to get great coverage where you live, then don’t overlook this situation!
Does It Make Financial Sense to Get An Unlimited Plan?
This is one of the toughest questions that you’re going to have to answer. A lot of people want to run to the 20 or 30-dollar unlimited plans that some of the popular wireless services offer. There’s no question that many of these are good, but to be able to get those deals, you need to have four lines on the plan or more. If it’s a single plan, you could be paying more like 50 or 45 dollars for one line on the unlimited plan.
When you’re paying up to 50 dollars a line, you may start to wonder how much data you’re actually using and if it makes sense to have that particular plan. What we’re trying to get at is that having an unlimited plan can make sense for some people but not for others. They are great for families because, let’s face it, every kid at around 11 or 12 or even sooner will want a phone. Getting into these deals with lower costs per line on unlimited plans makes a lot of sense.
Many of you may remember those first days of data roaming. You’d go over the amount of data that you had available, and the cost of the plan would just skyrocket. If you want to avoid that, then just getting the unlimited plan, even for 45 dollars a line, could make sense. Ultimately it’s a very personal situation that we feel each person has to assess according to their own needs and wants. What we’ve tried to do here is give a wide scope of elements that we feel people should keep in mind.
Unlimited Data Plans While Traveling
We wouldn’t be using my phone abroad if we didn’t mention this, right? Here’s the thing about unlimited data while traveling. It’s usually going to be considerably more expensive than buying just a SIM card with limited data. However, Maya Mobile is one of the alternatives that promises to change that. What they offer are limited credit validity options that all come with an unlimited amount of data.
This means that you can pay for an eSIM that’s going to last you three days, and you’re going to have unlimited data throughout that time. The prices for these options are quite a bit more expensive than what you can get from Airalo or the regular SIM cards that you can buy on the street. Of course, the big upside in this situation is that you’re not going to have to worry about counting data.
The way we see it, unlimited data is going to make sense for some travelers but not for others. If you need to be in touch with people from work when you’re in another country, you’re going to need unlimited data. People who are going to make long trips on a bus or train and want to have something to do in the process can totally benefit from unlimited data. However, if you’re going to be out and about on regular tours, it wouldn’t seem like you need to pay a premium for unlimited data.
Simply put, you won’t be using up as much data just by accessing social media and the typical apps that you may use on a daily basis as you would if you’re streaming movies all day. That last concept is one that we think is essential in making this decision.
Final Thoughts on Unlimited Data
The last thing that we wanted to do was paint unlimited data as a bad thing. What we feel the problem is particularly for travelers, is that searching for unlimited data will lead to the highest costs. When you really break things down, you could realize that you’re not really using up as much data as you think, and therefore, you’re really just throwing some money down the drain.
It’s always going to be a good idea to get a real sense for the amount of data that you truly use. This is going to help you decipher the plan that you want to buy! Otherwise, you may be paying extra for a plan that you don’t really use to its full extent. In our view, it’s always a good idea to look into the options that are on the table before you go with perhaps the alternative that has the biggest brand.
That was the main reason why we decided to craft this article to address some of the lesser-known facts about unlimited data plans, particularly as they pertain to traveling!