“Unlimited” is the Most Meaningless Word in Wireless
  • Posted byby Kellen

“Unlimited” is the Most Meaningless Word in Wireless

Today’s early morning announcement from Verizon is one of the most hilariously absurd I’ve seen in some time because it perfectly encapsulates the situation the US wireless industry is currently in. And maybe it’s been this way for a while, but the ridiculousness of adding on a third “unlimited” plan has pushed things to a level that needs to be mocked. There really is nothing more meaningless in the US wireless industry than the word “unlimited.”

There was a time where unlimited actually meant unlimited. Sure, it started way back in the 3G days and migrated over for some to 4G LTE, but it was a real thing for a while. Of course, Verizon has pulled every trick in the book to eliminate those grandfathered plans that saw users gobbling up hundreds of gigabytes of data. They even suckered me off it last year.

Now, though, unlimited means limited unlimited. There is no such thing as an unlimited plan from Verizon or AT&T or T-Mobile or Sprint. All of them have limits – none of them are truly unlimited. Most aren’t even close to being unlimited in anything except texting and calling.

Look at this ridiculous line-up of plans from Verizon, all of which are called “unlimited”:

verizon unlimited data plans

The first option, called Go Unlimited, falls under Verizon’s idea of  “unlimited,” but that means a limit on speeds if you are in a congested area, a limit on video stream quality (only 480p), and a limit on hotspot data speeds.

The next option, called Beyond Unlimited, gives you “premium” unlimited 4G LTE data, which really just means that you have a 22GB cap before Verizon has the option to limit your speeds. It also comes equipped with limited video streaming (up to 720p), and a limit on 4G LTE hotspot data speeds before being limited further by slower speeds.

The final and newest “unlimited” plan from Verizon is called Above Unlimited. You would think that this new, top tier plan would ditch the limits, but they are also there in various spots. For one, you have a limit on that “premium” unlimited 4G LTE data, only this time you get the good speeds up to 75GB worth. You are still throttled in video (to 720p) and hotspot, only this time you get up to 20GB of 4G LTE hotspot data.

The only unlimited piece of any of these plans is technically in the data department, where Verizon will let you use all of the data you can consume, only it might come at slow enough speeds that you’ll pull your hair out.

And not to pick on Verizon, it’s just that they are the newest to announce a related plan. But AT&T and T-Mobile and Sprint all do the same stuff.

AT&T has two “unlimited” plans that are almost identical to Verizon’s before today’s 3rd option was added on. They limit you in speed, the amount of 4G LTE data you get, and the quality of your video streams. T-Mobile at least waits to throttle you at 50GB worth of 4G LTE data, but they still do. They also throttle video quality. Sprint appears to hold the power to limit your speeds whenever, plus they throttle video, gaming, and music streaming.

As you can see, there is no such thing as true unlimited anything in the US wireless industry. We’re basically back to tiered data, only the tiers have been increased to 22GB, 50GB, and 75GB depending on the carrier. But even with those bigger buckets of data, the limits on video, hotspot, and other services are nowhere close to being “unlimited.”

The next time Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, or Sprint tell you something is unlimited, make sure to ask what the limits are.

Written by

Kellen

It’s not often that you get to merge personal passions into a professional life, but that’s what Kellen did when he launched Droid Life in 2009. After working years of unsatisfying jobs in the medical and property management fields, he took a risk to try and create an online community while playing with the coolest gadgets on the planet each day, a risk that has turned out to be incredibly rewarding. Outside of Droid Life, Kellen is your typical Portlander who drinks way too much good beer, complains often about the Trail Blazers, and can be found out on the streets for a run, rain or shine.

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103 Comments

  • Their absurd idea of unlimited is the same as if you rented a car with ‘unlimited’ miles, but after driving 100miles, the car slows to a virtually unusable 30mph.

  • Shouldn’t the plan tiers go, goUnlimited, aboveUnlimited, and beyondUnlimited? Isn’t that the saying? “Let’s “go” “above” & “beyond””. Not the other way around.

    • This is Verizon we’re talking about. They aren’t the sharpest crayons in the box.

  • The most meaningless phrase in wireless: “pure Android experience”.

  • Wired internet’s not ‘unlimited’, either. One coax serves a whole neighborhood so, when everybody gets on the ‘net at the same time, speeds slow. Same with fiber. Nothing’s ‘unlimited’ except man’s ignorance

  • Still on vzw grandfathered unlimited. The only throttling I get is on video (720). I asked what my data limit was before throttling kicks in, and was told 200gigs. However, I was also told that if I reach 200gigs several months in a row that I would be forced into another plan. At which time I told them…if, and when that happens I will no longer be a customer. (20 yrs.)

    • I’m still on the Grandfathered plan too. Honestly, I haven’t been paying much attention to any of the changes they made to it to try to force people off. Would you say, I’m best off sticking on it rather than jumping on 1 of these new plans?

      • That’s a call you’ll have to make, I’m staying put as long as I reasonably can.

        • I guess what I’m asking is if there’s any known benefit to the top tier of these new plans over the grandfathered plan? Other than tethering.

          • If you need or want unlimited calling/txt I guess that would be a benefit, however, if you regularly use more than the allotted data, you may suffer a bit there.

  • These companies should get rid of all these plans and go back to giving 2 GB for $100 and $15 per GB overage. Then maybe less entitlement syndrome.

  • YOU can pry my grandfathered plan out of my cold,dead hand Verizon. I DO WHAT I WANT!

  • you will have to pry my grandfathered plan out of my cold dead hand!! even though its damn expensive!!!

  • sticking with my good old unlimited grandfathered plan with verizon…meh to all this

    • And they’ll just keep upping the price more and more till you dump. I finally did this year after paying over $100/month. Forget that. Moved to straightalk unlimited on Verizon. Same darned thing, half the cost…..$55/month….

    • Yes, we need the FCC to step in and limit what companies offer so we can pay more. It’s funny because these prices and plans are better than what we had under net neutrality, but people will still bitch. The new plan would cost about half as much as my old grandfathered unlimited plan, while offering enough data at 4G speeds for about 99.98% of people. *Free market* competition is what brought these plans at such good prices. If we had a truly free market we would see them reduced further.

      • You realize these plans were planned and implemented long before net neutrality went away.

        • These plans were put into place before the end of net neutrality, but after the very vocal against net neutrality Ajit Pai, was appointed to head the FCC.

  • Technically it is still unlimited (data) since they do not advertise speeds but instead the lack of overages for data. It is crappy, but that’s US carriers for ya.

    • That’s how they define “unlimited” but it doesn’t match the English definition of the word.

  • Lmfao…three “unlimited” plans. Why even bother calling it unlimited at that point? If you need three different tiers of so called unlimited, then it defeats the whole meaning of the word. Thanks droidlife I needed the laugh this morning.

  • All it has come to mean is that you aren’t getting charged overage charges when you exceed the amount of data you’ve paid to use. Definitely a misleading term. Phone companies are known to use buzz words to attract customers and confuse them about what they’re actually getting.

  • It doesn’t bother me much the 22GB cap, or whatever cap, what *really* bothers me is the video throttling. “here is you shining new device, it features a gorgeous 2K screen and with our network, you can download things at 100Mbps… too bad your video DL is throttled to 5mbps and 480p”.

    • What videos do they throttle? I haven’t noticed any throttling. I see where they say they will, but I can stream 1080p and 1440p. Maybe it’s just in congested areas?

    • Use VPN and your video won’t be throttled. I have a network indicator so I can see it go from 3.9 Mbps -> not throttled 10Mbps +

  • Kinda starting to look like forced throttling before they killed net neutrality. I wonder how Verizon will clamp down even more now that they can do whatever they want with data streaming.

    • Can’t BELIEVE tis is buried at the bottom. I came here to say EXACTLY this. It’ll be slow (the companies learned their lesson last time, which got them into NN rules), but it’ll occur. And we’ll grumble “it didn’t use to be so slow/expensive/low/whatever” but it’ll be JUST a LITTLE more expensive and then more and more money and less and data and… we’ll be back to NN rules that could have prevented this in the first place. ut, you know “free market.”

  • 720p video limit, what’s the point of having a phone with a 2k display if it can not be used to its capacity…….

    • Yet Verizon advertising that they have the best network for video streaming… Lies all around.

  • “Unlimited” is the most meaningless word and “eligible for an upgrade” is the most meaningless phrase.

  • Let’s bear in mind “unlimited” data -as in data beyond small caps and/or charges by mb/gb- is a relatively new thing. So no, unlimited isn’t meaningless when your carrier (usually smaller ones) use to only give you 2, 5, or 10 GB of data and shut you down completely or charge you excessively for each GB thereafter.

    But what we are seeing is a rise in not just unlimited data (no complete stops when you hit your # or extra charges), but how much before you’re throttled down.

    And this is a good thing. Not too long ago the most you could get was 30 from everybody. T-Mobile upped it to 50 and now verizon is hitting back with 75 (granted they’re charging you a crazy amount to do so). With 5g on the way and carriers one upping each other is going to improve the market and # of GBs before you’re throttled. Verizon’s three tier plan is dumb but it’s a sign of good things to come (just not necessarily from them).

  • Remember that HARD limit they implemented of nowhere? Where if you used 100 GB then they actually kicked you OFF their network period?

    Wait until you see the “limits” for 5G Unlimited….

    • Wait until you see the limits now that net neutrality is dead. It MIGHT not happen (which is why the repeal of the law) but I’m leaning toward “yeah, almost guaranteed it WILL.”

  • Verizon is for suckers and those who want to give their money to corporate traitors who willingly hand over all your personal information to the federal spy apparatus.

  • I don’t understand why everyone keeps complaining about not having truly unlimited data… It’s been this way for years. Pick a plan that works for you and be done with it. I’ve been on all 4 of the big US carriers at one point or another and never had an issue with throttling (that I’m aware of), deprioritization, or data caps. My wife and I and our 2 daughters are on the Go Unlimited plan with Verizon and don’t have any real complaints. Sure, the data is not as fast as our previous carrier (T-Mobile) but call quality has improved greatly and I haven’t dropped one yet. At the end of the day, your phone is just that… a phone. At least to me, anyway.

    • Just because you’re used to it doesn’t make it any less of a scam. I had the original unlimited in 3G days, had to deploy so I put my account on suspend. The bastards added about $30 more to my monthly bill when I got back

    • I was writing a response, but I have just decided you MUST be trolling me.

  • Interesting… AboveUnlimited doesn’t seem to be a thing. I don’t show that plan while the other 2 appear….

  • Love the unlimited mobile hotspot (15gb of 4g lte)

    …doesn’t that mean, it’s, I don’t know–> LIMITED?

  • Is the Verizon grandfather unlimited plan still truly unlimited. Do they downsized streaming videos to 720p or is it 1080p. When they say 720p is that for you tube videos also. Sorry if this was answered already.

    • I’m on Verizon’s grandfathered unlimited plan and have yet to be throttled, I use about 30 GB a month. Also video quality is definitely not reduced, 1080P and higher is available on YouTube.

      • Thanks, I was thinking about changing over to this new plan but I don’t want to have my you tube to be in 720P.

      • i dont know about that. I have the old grandfather plan and my videos cant go past 720p and you can see the downsizing especially watching netflix

  • This is what Verizon believes is GOing ABOVE and BEYOND. PATHETIC!

  • It has meaning, and we all know what it means in terms of Cellular service.

    Anyone claiming otherwise is only doing so because they don’t already have enough drama in their lives.

    And all you “It’s not unlimited” morons; not even your grandfathered plans were unlimited by your own definitions. They were limited by coverage, congestion, QoS, what sites/services you used…

    So if you want to get pissy about it and pretend it can only mean one thing; you can f*ck right off.

    • “They were limited by coverage, congestion, QoS, what sites/services you used…” If you’re willing to take it that far, we might as well rid the world of the word because everything unlimited is limited by reality. This isn’t that. I’ve yet to find a single person, even the most strict user of the term, not accept the technical limitations. Everyone understands those exist. The argument is that Verizon is limiting people prior to the technology limiting them but still trying to take advantage of the ‘unlimited’ marketing. Verizon themselves acknowledge there’s a limit on their plans which is why they offer multiple tiers for different prices. If their throttling doesn’t qualify as a limit, then these plans are identical and shouldn’t cost separate amounts. They do exist and they do cost different amounts because they have different levels of limits applied making the term ‘unlimited’ complete garbage. It’d be like having an ultimate plan and then releasing an ultimate plus plan. It completely negates the meaning of the word.

      • You spelled it out; you get it.

        From your response you obviously know that “unlimited”, in terms of wireless, refers to amount of data and that the “limitations” are on the speeds at which that data is delivered.

        You know exactly what they mean when they say “unlimited”. Obviously, if you understand it, it must have some meaning.

        • I understand it and therefore think they’re wrong to use it. The limits that differentiate the values of the plan undo the meaning of the word unlimited. If throttling isn’t considered a limit, then the plans are identical and should cost the same.

          • Throttling is most definitely a limit – that they completely disclose; to the speed.

            It is not a limit to the “theoretically” unlimited amount of data.

  • Unlimited Billing……………I’ve been carrier free for over 10 years, after getting in a fight with Verizon about a 1400+ bill I received back in 2006. I was in Northern Maine near the Canadian Border. Turns out my phone was connecting to a Canadian cell tower to make calls. I was charged a month of international roaming fees. After 2 months of arguing with Verizon that I was in the USA while making these calls they finally relented when I took a trip to the local sheriff’s office in Madawaska Maine and called customer service. Put a deputy sheriff on the phone and they actually believed him.

  • Yeah, this is super annoying. Red Lobster does it too. Like when they offer unlimited shrimp. Usually it takes 5 or so minutes to get the next plate of shrimp, but sometimes it takes 10. I want all my shrimp at 4g speeds. Fake unlimited!

    • Lol it’s funny but true. Every year I go to Oluve Garden Unlimited pasta once or twice. The first bowl is regular, or slightly smaller than regular now. Each bowl after is really small comparatively, and takes ages to come out

      • Red Robin does the same with their unlimited fries; the 1st basket is 20 fries each subsequent basket is around 10, and its a wait in between SMH! #BringBackUnlimitedFood

    • Ughhhhh…..I hated that. The Red Lobster near me only let you order 2 in the beginning but you could only order 1 at a time after that AND you had to be “finished” with one of your orders of shrimp for them to bring you another. PLUS the options started getting crappy…

    • no way man. perhaps you don’t do it right. i lay the plan out to the waiter/waitress from the start. i plan on having x amount of refills and i tip well. done. zero issues ever and they have to roll me out of the place. good times

  • I would love to get to these fake unlimited plans. But im on the non unlimited 10gb plan because that allows me to still use my employees partner discount. Because some reason I cant on the fake unlimited. And they tried to convince me to switch and drop my 23% monthly discount…..

    • Agree. Employer discount is the reason I stuck with one of the tiered plans. So dumb they do not allow discounts (other than military) on the new “unlimited” plans.

    • Well if you use a lot of data, unlimited with no discount could still be cheaper than tiered.

  • I’m still on my grandfathered unlimited Verizon plan… Am I overpaying at this point for what I use? Probably… I think I refuse to move because I hope that in the future they’ll just forget about the .001% on the grandfathered plan and then I’ll have my day!

    • Depends how much data you use, if you often use over 22GB then yes you are overpaying.

  • It should be the “unlimited***” plan

    *** By unlimited, we really mean limited amount of text, data, and calls, cause 1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 = 1

  • I commented basically a tldr of this article on your article this morning and got bashed by some limited unlimited supporters defending this non sense ????

  • Unlimited gas and you can drive as far as you want to!!!
    …
    …
    …here’s a moped

    • Better yet…. Unlimited gas, here’s your Lamborghini and you can drive as far and fast as you want but only 25 mph after the first 50 miles…

      • What’s scary is I could see this happening with Tesla’s in a dystopian future where the government rations our energy usage.

  • For those that are curious I’m on the original grandfathered unlimited. I’ve no wifi at home so I’m always grateful for unlimited 4G data. It’s $49.99/month minus a modest discount I receive (Verizon gives educators and others a discount in some states.) Based on my use I generally pay $1/GB or less. Terrific bargain. It’s true YouTube streaming sometimes doesn’t load efficiently beyond 720p but I’ve never experienced throttling (that I’m aware of) on my data use.

    • I don’t know how that is possible. I was FORCED off the original unlimited plan a couple years ago. I had it for over a decade… and they told me either I pick one, or they will move it to one, but I will no longer be able to keep it. (my brothers were also forced so it wasn’t just me) . Just amazing that you managed to get through them doing that.

    • I’m still grandfathered as well and use it. To get past the 720p restriction I use my VPN I pay 5 bucks a month for. Works wonderfully on 1080p and 1440p

    • I gave up my grandfathered UDP along with the National Family Plan from Alltel. It just got too expensive after awhile. I went to one of Verizon’s tiered plan and saved a little money. When my wife decided that it was time to ditch the flip phone and get a smartphone, my monthly plan jumped up a bit. Decided to ditch VZW altogether and went to T-Mobile’s One plan. $100 for both are phones each month. Sometimes $80 or $90 if we use 2GB or less each with kickback. Heck of a lot better than $160/mo that Big Red was charging me.

  • The reasoning is that the “Unlimited” moniker is for talk & text & access to the Internet. Speed and throughput is a side note.

    • Unlimited******************
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      *************There are limits on everything.

      • Unlimited Access Unlimited Speed.
        I agree, this is B.S., but I am trying to figure out how this passes their legal teams.

        • The legal angle for mobile carriers is the “but everyone else is doing it” argument.

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