Should i keep unlimited data plan

Although everyone's wireless needs are different, for most we think unlimited plans make the most sense especially when it comes to choosing a new plan. This plan has unlimited talk and text, but after you use up 5GB of data -- and it's 5GB shared with all your lines, not 5GB for each line -- your speed will drastically slow until the end of your billing cycle. If you have one or two lines and don't use a lot of data you may be fine with one of these plans or the older plan you currently have.

For most, however, we really do believe unlimited is the best choice when choosing a new plan. We will keep updating this article as new unlimited plans and better deals emerge.

In the meantime, if you know of a better wireless plan deal or have your own favorites, drop them into the comments or message me on Twitter eliblumenthal. Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic.

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CNET editors pick the products and services we write about. When you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Eli Blumenthal. Know your area Before we get to the plans, to get the best deal you need to make sure you have the coverage that you need.

Know your deals and discounts One other thing to keep in mind: discounts. Now onto the picks. CNET Mobile. Best for value: T-Mobile Essentials. You might end up saving some money! The average smartphone user needs between 2 and 3 gigabytes of data each month.

That includes e-mail, some web browsing, and occasional music streaming. We frequently overestimate our data usage. Streaming 35 hours of Pandora music, for example, takes up just under 1 gigabyte. You can go back through your old bills and calculate your average monthly data use. That will take into account your specific habits and the habits of your family. If your usage is more in line with the average, then a gigabyte plan will be plenty of bandwidth for your phone.

The average family of four consumes about 12 gigabytes of data each month. That can be enough to make the unlimited plan worthwhile. If you find yourself regularly busting through your monthly allotment of data, an unlimited data plan can seem very attractive. However, it might be smarter to change your habits instead of changing your plan.

Making just a few changes can let you keep a more affordable plan and stay within your data limits. Video streams at HD quality.

View T-Mobile plan details here. Prices above apply if AutoPay and paperless billing are enabled. Sprint, meanwhile, for a long time went for simplicity with a single unlimited plan, which it called Unlimited Freedom. But that all changed on July 12th, when Sprint announced it would instead offer two different unlimited data plans. Sprint Unlimited Basic: You get unlimited data free of potential slowdowns until you pass 50GB of usage in a month.

Video streaming is limited to standard definition. Sprint Unlimited Plus: You get unlimited data free of potential slowdowns until you pass 50GB of usage in a month. Video streaming at p Full HD. View Sprint plan details here.

Carriers can also very easily distinguish video data from other data your phone is using, so the p restriction stretches all over the web. Meanwhile, the majority of modern smartphones feature incredibly sharp, pixel-dense displays that are capable of playing content at p and above.

When we were stuck with data buckets, it made sense for carriers to optionally limit the quality of video on their end. Verizon: Go Unlimited: Deprioritization is active for your entire billing cycle. Beyond Unlimited: Deprioritization starts after 22GB of data usage. Above Unlimited: Deprioritization starts after 75GB of data usage. The big four providers have claimed deprioritization is necessary to keep things running smoothly for everyone and to prevent customers who are gobbling up large amounts of data from impacting network reliability and performance.

Are you being throttled, or is it just iffy coverage? Comedy Central and a few other Viacom networks will be added soon. The latter only applies to subscribers on the more expensive plan. Customers on the base plan get an hour of in-flight Wi-Fi from Gogo and unlimited messaging when in the air.

T-Mobile also offers a simpler, flat monthly bill that already includes the added taxes and fees other carriers add on top of their advertised pricing. Unlimited Plus adds onto that with a Tidal subscription — but only for the regular audio tier and not Tidal Hi-Fi.

Probably not from a customer perspective. And there are still millions of people on older monthly plans that are no longer offered to new customers. As always, your first priority in choosing a carrier should be coverage and reliability.