Here's a
rundown of the gotchas of the new unlimited plan.
You do lose employer and education discounts with the unlimited plan.
You MUST set up automatic payments via your checking account or a debit card. That's kind of a deal breaker with me, because a few years ago they suddenly slapped a $5 fee on people wanting to pay with their credit card and tried to force everyone into paying with their checking account directly. The backlash caused them to withdraw that, but it still irks me that they really, really, badly want people to pay directly with their checking account. I use Bill Pay at the bank to pay them, usually, so I end up paying them that way as it is, but they don't get my bank account and routing number along with it for them to have it hacked at some time in the future.
The other deal breaker (for me) is the 10 GB on tether and then having it drop to 3G speeds after that. I do between 70-100 GB a month. Currently, with 16 days left to go in my billing cycle, I've used 39.09 gigs. 3G speeds can be as fast as 1.6mbit/sec, but averages out to about 850 kbit/sec. That can turn a 15 minute download into a 3 hour download.
For most people, unless you regularly go to at least 30 GB per month, the new unlimited plan is the way to go. My current (grandfathered) plan is
- Plan: NATIONWIDE TALK 900
- Account Access (phone plan): $59.99
- Data (unlimited): $49.99
- Messages (500): $10.00
- Products & Apps (Tethering): $30.00
That totals $149.98
$80 a month looks a lot better, but dropping to 3G after only the first few days of the month looks horrendous.