Mobile Broadband Plans

Mobile Broadband Plans

If you’ve done any searching at all for mobile broadband plans then you know that it can be a pretty confusing project at best.  Mobile broadband plans continue to go through an evolution that I’m not sure even the major providers are certain where it will end up.  For the most part gone are the unlimited data plans that used to be available, yes there are one or two exceptions but they come at a price such as throttling.  We’ll run through some of the major providers of mobile broadband plans here and try to give you some idea where things stand.

The plans are taken directly from each providers web site.

Verizon mobile broadband plans.

We’ll start out here with Verizon since they are the defacto number one wireless provider in the United States and they also offer the greatest upside potential in technology, albeit a shrinking lead.  Here’s a breakdown of Verizon’s mobile broadband plans as they exist at the moment, which is midyear 2011.

3G/4G mobile broadband plans.

• 1 GB of monthly data allowance for $20.00.  This is only available for 3G tablets.
• 2 GB of monthly data for $30.00.
• The next step up is 5 GB of data for $50.00.  This is available for any device.
• The final mobile data plan is 10 GB and this one goes for $80.00 a month.  You can pretty much use this on any device as well.
• Per gigabyte overage charges do apply if you exceed your limits (this does not apply to 3G tablets).  The cost of this is $20.00 for the 1 GB plan and $10.00 per gigabyte on all of the other plans.

Prepaid mobile broadband plans.

• These plans come broken down by day, week and monthly, with the monthly plans being the same as mentioned above.  With the daily plan you can get 100 MB for $15.00 or the weekly plan with 200 MB for $30.00.

AT&T mobile broadband plans.

AT&T’s plans are pretty pretty much cover the spetrum.

DataConnect 3G mobile broadband plans for 3G Laptops and 3G / 4G Mobile Hotspots.

• The data plan for a mobile hot spot is $35.00 per month for 3 GB worth of data.
• Data plan for 5 GB worth of data is $60.00 per month.

DataConnect 4G plans.

• Data plan for 5 GB of data is $50.00 per month.

DataConnect personal for iPad

• Data plan for iPad 1 is $14.99 per month for 250 GB of data.
• Data plan for a iPad 2 is $25.00 per month for 2 GB of data usage.

DataConnect personal for tablets.

• These plans come in two basic flavors 250 MB and 2 GB with the cost being $14.99 and $25.00 respectively.

All AT&T plans come with overage fees and they vary, so please investigate carefully before purchasing any plan.

T-Mobile mobile broadband plans

T-Mobile’s broadband plans are pretty straightforward and only come in two varieties, no-commitment and commitment.

Monthly mobile broadband plans (2 year Commitment).

• 200 MB of high-speed data for $29.99 a month.
• 2 GB of data for $39.99 a month.
• 5 GB of data for $49.99 a month.
• 10 GB of data for $84.99 a month.

No commitment mobile data plans.

• Seven days of data use or 100 MB for $10.00.
• 1 GB of data use a month for $30.00.
• 3 GB of data use a month for $50.00.

T-Mobile’s monthly broadband plans are overage free which means that when you go over your allotted data limit your connection will be throttled back to 2G speeds until your next billing cycle begins.  You can also get a 20% discount on your mobile broadband plan if you are already a T-Mobile voice customer. There are other perks as well to being a voice customer, such as a payment plan for any data card you buy at full price.

See Sprit Here.

See Virgin Mobile Here.

All the mobile broadband plans listed above are always a moving target and can be changed at a moment’s notice, so please check out each plan carefully before deciding which provider best suits your needs.

And always ask the question: “What happens if I move my phone service to you?” You never know what you may get.