Remember back in June AT&T marked the beginning of the end for “unlimited” data plans for cell phone users? Well direct competitors Verizon and T-Mobile recently jumped onto the tiered data plan bandwagon, so let’s have a look-see. Unlike like AT&T’s data-capped plan that forces new subscribers to choose between 200MB and 2GB options, Big Red and T-Mobile are keeping the unlimited $30 smartphone 3G data plans (for now). What’s changed is the addition of cheaper options for less data-heavy users. The breakdown is fairly simple. VZ subscribers can now choose from the $30 unlimited option and a new $15 150MB/month option with $0.10 per MB overage. T-Mobile subscribers can go unlimited for $30 or pay $15 for 200MB/month. You can pick up the latter option for only $10/month for “a limited time” if you sign a new 2-year contract with it. And that’s about it. What’s interesting here is that VZ and T-Mobile have decided to keep the unlimited option, while AT&T has eliminated it for new customers (if you had it before the changes AT&T let you grandfather it). I’m oh-so curious to follow the journey of the unlimited data plan; with such a big push toward tiered data plans, it’s starting to seem like carriers are moving away from it. Will it survive in a 4G world?
