How to cost out your unlimited data. Is it worth it?

[rocco225]

After many sleepless nights debating whether I should cash in my unlimited data for a new phone, I ultimately decided against it but your results may vary. When you run it by a VZW rep they are quick to point out that the average user uses < 2GB of data per month. I am quick to point out that I am not the average user. I have months that I use > 12GB of data but its rare and I like the idea of having an unlimited bucket. I made a spreadsheet to help you draw your own conclusion. If it works for you let me know. I had to see the two plans side by side to make my decision. You will have to enter your desired shared data plan amount and your ballpark tax estimate. If you don't get a corporate discount you'll have to change that value to 0 as well. If you see any obvious errors or flaws in logic feel free to point them out.

In order to use this for your own planning, you'll have to sign into your Google account, then open the link and select "Make a copy..." You will then be able to use it as your own working copy.

Tell me what you think.

Roc

 

[Cringey]

The way I figured it was not worth it for me to pay $30+ more a month on a Share Everything plan with just 1 smartphone and 2 dumbphones on the account.
The Nationwide 700 family plan I was on was $113. ($128 after taxes), That was 700 mins, unlimited texts, and unlimited data.
Share Everything would have cost me $148. pre tax. So we would have been getting less data but more minutes, but we only went over minutes twice in 8 years. Sure Mobilehotspot would've been nice but not worth the price hike.
The most rediculous aspect of it is raising the additional dumb lines from $9.99 to $30.00 each.
So the right choice for me was alternate upgrading and extending the mainline Nationwide 700 plan two more years.

 

[Eclipse2K]

I figured its not worth it the moment I went over 2 GB for the first time. That's really not a lot of data of you're doing anything other than email and the occasional web page surfing. It works for some but I have no reason to pay for a data plan just so I can check email and a web page on the go but not much else. I am so used to listening to SiriusXM on the go and the data eats away quickly. I also can't be bothered to add another worry to my life with data overages. My friend dropped it and it works fine for him but he doesn't ever use Netflix and only uses YouTube so his Share Everything (4 GB) works for him.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX HD using Tapatalk 2

 

[androidluvr2]

I have a family plan with 2 unlimited data lines - 700 shared minutes, unlimited text, unlimited data. Both unlimited data lines typically use under 2GB of data. A share everything plan with 4GB of data would be $15 a month less. Data overages are $15 per GB so as long as we didn't go over more than 1 GB a month, we would save money on the share everything plan AND get subsidized phones AND get free mobile hotspots on both phones.

However, I don't know what the future is going to hold wrt data use by smartphones so for now I am holding onto my unlimited data lines and trying to figure out a way to get subsidized phones. I added a new line to get one subsidized phone and am offsetting the cost of that by selling the old phone on swappa. I am hoping I can transfer the unlimited lines' upgrades to that line and get subsidized phones using the transferred upgrades without losing unlimited data. We shall see how long that loophole stays open.

 

[Almeuit]

Good idea guys. For some I agree it may not be worth it but it sounds like you guys are like me.. You use your smartphone for more than browsing and email checking.

I wish I had Verizon unlimited but I was with ATT. I had to move to Sprint and I average around 8+ GB a month. It's just because I use my phone for lots of streaming music and things of that nature.

So anyone who is on Verizon who has unlimited and uses their phone.. I'd hang on to that nice data plan .

Sent from my Sprint S3 using AC forums.

 

[Eclipse2K]

Good idea guys. For some I agree it may not be worth it but it sounds like you guys are like me.. You use your smartphone for more than browsing and email checking.

I wish I had Verizon unlimited but I was with ATT. I had to move to Sprint and I average around 8+ GB a month. It's just because I use my phone for lots of streaming music and things of that nature.

So anyone who is on Verizon who has unlimited and uses their phone.. I'd hang on to that nice data plan .

Sent from my Sprint S3 using AC forums.

I did twice. I bought a RAZR Maxx HD at retail to keep it and months later sold that off to pay retail for a Note II. Depends how much you use it but I do a lot of Netflix so I need the data.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note II