A Comparison of US iPhone Data Plans

Wednesday January 18, 2012 2:41 PM PST by Jordan Golson

With the introduction of new iPhone data plans from AT&T, here's a look at the data plans from the three providers that natively sell the iPhone in the United States.
AT&T:

- $20/month for 300MB data with a $20 charge for each additional 300MB
- $30/month for 3GB data with a $10 charge for each additional 1GB
- $50/month for 5GB data with mobile hotspot/tethering and a $10 charge for each additional 1GB

Verizon:

- $30/month for 2GB data
- $50/month for 5GB data
- $50/month for 4GB data with mobile hotspot/tethering
- $70/month for 7GB data with mobile hotspot/tethering
- $80/month for 10GB data
- $100/month for 12GB data with mobile hotspot/tethering

Overages on all Verizon plans are $10/GB

Sprint:

- $30/month for unlimited data
Sprint offers the best deal on data, though users of the Sprint version of the iPhone 4S have reported slower data speeds than the other networks.

Between AT&T and Verizon, AT&T's $30 plan offers 50% more data than Verizon, and also offers a $20 option for light-data users.

At the $50 price point, AT&T offers 5GB of data plus tethering, whereas Verizon charges $10 more for the same package.

58 comments

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wordoflife
102 months ago
Carriers should be working for their customers.
1GB = $20 would be acceptable.

In all seriousness though, this is just getting more and more expensive. This is ridiculous.
Rating: 9 Votes
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definitive
102 months ago

Carriers should be working for their customers.
1GB = $20 would be acceptable.

In all seriousness though, this is just getting more and more expensive. This is ridiculous.


How is anything besides unlimited acceptable? This is 2012, not 1995 where Dial-Up used to cost ~$5/hour. Even regular broadband internet doesn't cost this much. If the cellular carriers weren't so greedy, they'd charge unlimited fees per speed, not amount of usage.
Rating: 5 Votes
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maattp
102 months ago



Glad I was able to lock-in unlimited data with Sprint. The speeds could be a little better but I can't complain when I only pay $90 a month with taxes for my iPhone.

I'm sure Sprint won't offer unlimited data forever so people should get it before its to late.


ONLY $90 a month? That's a complete rip off, I thought Canada was bad.
Rating: 5 Votes
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booksacool1
102 months ago

In Australia you can get 1GB for ~$10.
We have much lower population density than the USA and any of the that data that comes from overseas travels in long undersea cables. So the cost of providing Data here could well be double the cost in USA.

I'm surprised you be happy to double what we pay.

edit: oh just to rub it in Tethering is included in most of our data plans.


Indeed I'm thinking the same thing. The other strange thing I notice is the long contract requirements.
Rating: 4 Votes
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MattInOz
102 months ago

Carriers should be working for their customers.
1GB = $20 would be acceptable.

In all seriousness though, this is just getting more and more expensive. This is ridiculous.


In Australia you can get 1GB for ~$10.
We have much lower population density than the USA and any of the that data that comes from overseas travels in long undersea cables. So the cost of providing Data here could well be double the cost in USA.

I'm surprised you be happy to double what we pay.

edit: oh just to rub it in Tethering is included in most of our data plans.
Rating: 4 Votes
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rcappo
102 months ago
I could have summed it up as:
Sucks
Sucks
Sucks


People should be given phone numbers for life at birth like Social Security numbers. Then it wouldn't matter if you wanted to switch carriers, go a few months without service, get a prepaid sim card with minutes that don't expire, and there would be a few great tethering apps.

Wouldn't capitalism be great if it worked the way it was supposed to?
Rating: 4 Votes
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thisisluiss
102 months ago
so glad i got unlimited data with AT&T. sucks att is rising their prices one more time this will make them lose some customers just like netflix lost thousands of customers
Rating: 4 Votes
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wikus
102 months ago
Its incredible how over the years its cost the carriers LESS to supply the transfer of data, yet they demand for consumers to pay more.

I wonder how many people think data is a scarce resource....??
Rating: 3 Votes
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McJaffaCakes
102 months ago
The US carriers are rediculous. In the UK we have the option of buying the pone unlocked and sticking in a SIM from another provider.

For example using giffgaff as a cheap example for £10 per month you not only get unlimited data but unlimited texts and something like 250 minutes.

Over a 24 month period you'll save money paying full price for the phone and using giffgaff compared to the subsidised cost of a contract. If you can get a 0% credit card deal you can use that to spread the cost.

If you'd still prefer a contract they're still a lot cheaper in the UK than their US counterparts.

Living in what's called 'Rip-off Britain' it's good to see the rare times we do get a better deal.
Rating: 3 Votes
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crees!
102 months ago
Tethering Costs Are Absurd

I'm sure others have mentioned this and it needs to be strongly conveyed by us all to the carriers too. And that is, we pay for a data plan and there are automatic additional fees if we exceed our paid limit. How we consume that data should not be discriminated against. With the base data plan, I should be able to turn on mobile hotspot on my phone and use an iPad or any other device any time I want. If I exceed my plan limit, however the data is used, the additional fees auto kick in and that is expected and accepted. This tells me the real reason telcos are charging extra to use an already built in feature of the phone is just to nickel and dime their customers.
Rating: 2 Votes
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