• Plan name: Sprint Unlimited Freedom.
• Monthly price: $60.
• Plan at a glance: Unlimited minutes, texts and high-speed data, plus 5GB mobile hot spot allowance.
• Why we like it: It’s cheaper than AT&T and T-Mobile’s unlimited plans, and unlike AT&T’s plan, doesn’t require you to bundle your cable and wireless services.

Things to know:

• You can have up to 10 lines on your plan. The first additional line costs $40 per month. Each line after that is $30 per month.
• Sprint charges a $30 activation fee for each new line.
• Mobile hot-spot usage at 4G speeds is capped at 5GB per month. After that, you’ll switch from high-speed data to 2G lower speeds for hot-spot usage.

Other Plans at this price point:

Best prepaid unlimited data plans

MetroPCS also offers a great unlimited deal, but on T-Mobile’s network. Plus, customers with a prepaid cell phone plan avoid a credit check and any long-term ties to the carrier.

• Plan name: Boost Mobile Unlimited Unhook’d.
• Monthly price: $50.
• Plan at a glance: Unlimited minutes, texts and high-speed data, plus 8GB mobile hot spot allowance.
• Why we like it: An unlimited plan with none of the commitments.

• Plan name: MetroPCS Unlimited.
• Why we like it: One of the cheapest unlimited plans available, and it has a generous amount of hot spot data.

• Boost: Video streaming on the $50 Unlimited Unhook’d plan is capped at a resolution of 480p, which is standard definition. If you want to stream in HD, you’ll need to go with Boost’s original Unlimited plan, which is $60 per month. The company assesses a $3 “convenience fee” on payments made in store or by phone with a customer service agent. And you’ll pay full price to purchase a new phone, but if you have a phone through Sprint, you might be able to activate it with Boost.
• MetroPCS: You can save $5 per line each month — up to a maximum of five lines — if you make your plan a family plan. But you’ll pay a service fee of $2 to $3.50 for each payment made over the phone, in a store or at a Western Union location. You’ll also pay retail price for a new phone. Smartphone prices range from $29 to nearly $650. But if you have a compatible phone, you might be able to activate it with the carrier. Keep in mind that T-Mobile owns MetroPCS and, when there are demands on the network, it gives priority to T-Mobile branded customers. That means MetroPCS customers in busy areas might have slower data speeds.

HOW Others COMPARE:

Best unlimited data plan for mobile hot-spot users

Sometimes you just need Wi-Fi. The T-Mobile One plan offers unlimited data and unlimited hot-spot capabilities, albeit at 3G speeds, which far exceeds the 5GB allowed on Sprint’s unlimited plan.

• Plan name: T-Mobile One.
• Monthly price: $75.
• Plan at a glance: Unlimited minutes, texts and high-speed data, plus 3G data speeds when using your phone as a mobile hot spot.
• Why we like it: It’s a little pricier than other plans, but you get unlimited data for mobile Wi-Fi usage.

• T-Mobile charges a $20 “SIM Starter Kit” fee for new activations.
• If you want HD video, or if you want 4G speeds on your mobile hot spot, you’ll have to spring for the T-Mobile One Plus plan, which costs an extra $25 per month per line.
• You can take off $5 from your monthly cost if you sign up for autopay.

How OTHERS compare:

Restrictions on unlimited data plans

Even though these are “unlimited” data plans, they aren’t exactly limitless. All of them cap high-speed data usage at around 23GB per month. If you hit that threshold, your connection might be “deprioritized, ” that is, slowed considerably. Even if you buy an unlimited plan, you should still connect to Wi-Fi when you can to conserve your data.

Methodology

We evaluated unlimited data plans offered by the following carriers: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Boost Mobile, Cricket Wireless and MetroPCS. To determine the best plans, we looked at the monthly plan price before taxes and fees, mobile hot spot allowance and high-speed data caps.

Source: www.nerdwallet.com