Going Out On A Blind Data

I spend a lot of time in stores and online, studying cell phone businesses and their plans. Believe me, there are a whole lot of them. At last count, there were over 100 companies offering deals form the "Big Three" (AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon) to the TV/Movie star pitchers like Ted Danson for Consumer Cellular, Ryan Reynolds with Mint Mobile and Jason Alexander for Visible. Then there’s Boost, Crickett, Tello, Metro, Lively, Net Ten and Jitterbug to name a few. Just walk into Best Buy, Target or Walmart and gaze at all the literature from these guys. Pricing gets thrown around like Mitch Trubisky interceptions. As the Temptations said, "It's a ball of confusion".

One word that everyone seems to toss around is "unlimited”. As in you get unlimited talk, text and data. Webster defines the word unlimited as "lacking any controls, unrestricted, boundless, infinite”. That seems pretty straightforward to me. But in the cell phone industry, the devil is in the details and those details often come with an asterisk. Let’s give the devil its due on the first two unlimiteds – talk and text - as most good plans do offer those according to the definition. It’s when we get to the word, "data” that things go off the rails. In fact, just about every unlimited data plan has so many strings attached that only a harpist could play with them.

For example, Mr. Reynolds pitches Mint Mobile’s unlimited plan at $30 per month. But then hit the "Details” button and you get this – "Unlimited plan customers using >40GB/month will experience lower speeds.”. That little ditty is written in 9-point small print. What it means is that after a person uses 40GB of data in a month, data speeds slow down until the next monthly billing cycle. And when I say slow, it can be really slow. By a factor of 1,000 or more. That sure seems to be at odds with the "lacking controls” and "unrestricted” part of the definition. Now let’s move along to Mr. Danson and Consumer Cellular. Their unlimited plan costs $50 per month. But here comes that 9-point print again – "If data usage exceeds 50GB, you will experience slower data speeds for the remainder of the billing cycle”. Once again, that does not look boundless or infinite to me.

The fact is that almost every so-called unlimited plan from every single provider has limitations. Those limitations include poor definition video streams, slowing the speed down, sometimes dramatically, and/or something called "deprioritization”. That’s when a smaller company’s users have to move to the slow line during the busiest times in order to make room for the Big Three companies. It’s kind of like FastPass at a Disney Park. Everyone will get to ride. It’s just that some will get to ride a lot quicker than others.

I’m not sure how these companies can get away with redefining words, but I guess that’s marketing. There are really only a very few truly unlimited plans out there. Each of the Big Three does offer a plan with truly unlimited data on their most expensive plans. In essence, you get a FastPass. However, not everyone needs one. Some people will manage 40GB or 50GB of data per month and be fine with it. Others will not. Also, as you get to the more expensive plans, some companies offer perks which, if used, will lower the monthly price down to some of the cheaper options. So, let the buyer beware and be aware. Beware of definitions that may include fine print and be aware of how much data that you use per month.

I have a spreadsheet which helps people to understand how much data they will likely use each month. When I meet with a client, we can estimate that household's needs. In that way, you won't be going out on a monthly blind data. Since I retired from Radio, I've saved households from hundreds to even thousands of dollars a year on Cell, TV and Internet costs. For a free Tech Check look at your bills, email hmwellsradio@gmail.com or visit www.lowertechbills.com because you may not have the time to find savings, but I do.