Apr 13, 2023
What You Need to Know About the Best Mobile Phone Plans on the Market
With so many unlimited cell phone plans and providers vying for your money, it’s difficult to tell which will give you the best cell phone plan for your needs. The best cell phone plans from the overpriced wireless companies all clamber, “Pick me!” with promises of low cost, unlimited cell phone plans. But do you really need an unlimited amount of data?
About data and today's cell phone plans
Most of the cheap cell phone plans and the best cell phone plans available today feature unlimited data plans. And the majority of cell phone plans that feature unlimited data all have what’s called as a deprioritization threshold (also known as a data cap).
This cap will temporarily slow data speeds at a certain point and, if you reach it, your activities like web browsing, watching videos on Facebook, etc., might be slower than you’re used to.
But honestly, it takes a lot to reach that cap!
The reality of data and today's best cell phone plans
The standard data deprioritization (data cap) threshold is 23GB, but most people use just 2-5GB per billing cycle. Even if you’re on the high end, at 5GB, that’s 18GB left on the table. The result is that you end up paying a hefty monthly cost for something you aren’t using.
And that’s a waste of your hard-earned money.
Just ask this customer
One of our new customers that switched to us from Verizon shared their cell phone bill with us. The customer had one of the unlimited data plans and the cell phone bill showed the account holder paying $70 a month for 8GB of data, plus an extra 6.128GB. That’s just over 14GB of data.
Now, on the bill under shared data the account holder had used just 3.7GB – across three devices – in the past month. (There's no way they'd ever hit the data cap!) With 14GB at their disposal that’s a lot of high speed data left unused for a cell phone plan that costs close to $100.
No wonder new customers are excited to switch over to our cell phone plans! We offer unlimited talk and text and high speed data for a whole lot less. Because really, how much data do you really need?
The bottom line:
If you’re on a $70 a month plan which gives you up to 23GB of high speed data (remember that's the data cap), this means you’re paying $3.04 per GB of data. And if you’re using just under 4GB a month, you’re paying $57.40 per month for high speed data you’re not using. Ouch.
Are you thinking it's time to become one of PureTalk's new customers? We think so, too!
How to find out how much high speed data you’re really using on unlimited data plans
Check your paper bill
If you receive a paper bill from your cell phone plan provider, the data information is most likely on the second or third page of your invoice. If your cell phone plan provider doesn’t include it, you can call or go online to request a more detailed bill. You can also do the following:
Log into your account from your computer and check the Usage tab.
Download your provider’s app and check the Usage tab.
You can also call your provider from your wireless phone:
AT&T: Dial *3282#
T-Mobile: Dial #web#
Verizon: Dial #DATA
Reasons to love data
High speed data lets you check in on your college student or grandkids via Facetime and Facebook. It lets you send pictures of your dining room redo to your best friend and receive photos of your buddy’s new boat (and fishing poles!) via text messages.
Data allows you tune in to your favorite podcasts, stream your favorite music, and watch as many movies as you like. And of course, it lets you read and respond to email, shop online, and even shop IRL – in real life – by getting you to your destination using Google Maps.
High speed data is the secret sauce that fuels almost everything you love to do
Data is the secret sauce that fuels almost everything you love to do and because it does, you might think you need a lot of it.
Funnily enough, you don’t. (Really. You're never going to hit that data cap.)
Web Browsing:
If you spend a lot of time on the Internet shopping or doing research, reading, checking sports scores, or making travel reservations, it’s quite possible to believe these activities take up a lot of data.
But the fact is that they don’t.
In fact, even if you spent most of your time on photo-heavy websites, which use more data than those with lots of text, you still wouldn’t come close to the 23GB data threshold. And, more importantly, you wouldn’t even come close to going beyond the 2-5GB most people use per billing cycle. So do you really need an unlimited data plan?
Let's break web browsing down:
One hour of web browsing = 60MB of data
60MB of data = 0.06GB
Facebook:
Once again, it’s easy to assume that because you can easily get sucked into Facebook it uses a lot of high speed data. It really doesn’t.
An hour scrolling through posts from your high school friends, neighbors you used to live next door to, far flung family members (or those you wish were far flung!), and community groups, uses about 80MB of high speed data. That’s more than shopping online or doing research, but only because Facebook has so many photos on it.
And an hour on Facebook watching cat videos, clips of Dancing with the Stars, and footage of puppies so cute you could cry, uses just 160MB of high speed data.
That's not a lot of data consumption which tell us that you don't really need the expense of an unlimited data plan.
One hour browsing on Facebook = 80MB of data
80MB of data = 0.08GB
One hour watching videos on Facebook = 160MB
160MB = 0.16GB
FaceTime:
FaceTime is great for dozens of activities. Keeping up with your kids, viewing prospective vacation properties from afar, and staying in touch with family and friends. And, like web browsing, it doesn’t use a lot of high speed data.
One hour FaceTime call = 85MB of data
85MB of data = 0.085GB
Listening to Podcasts:
The typical podcast uses about 1MB of high speed data per minute. So, if you’re listening to a 60-minute show, you’ll use about 60MB of data. That’s so little data, you might as well listen to several episodes in a row!
One hour podcast = 60MB of data
60MB of data = 0.06GB
Let’s tally it up:
60MB for 1-hour of web browsing + 80MB for 1-hour of Facebook browsing + 160MB for 1-hour watching videos on Facebook + 85MB for 1-hour on FaceTime + 60MB to listen to a 1-hour podcast = 445MB or 0.445GB
That’s not even half a gigabyte.
And it’s nowhere near the 1,000MB that equals 1GB.
The best cell phone plan is the one that respects what you really need
There’s a reason most people use only 2-5GB of data per billing cycle. And that’s because you’d have to spend every waking moment, 24-hours a day, seven days a week, online to exceed that amount.
The average consumer doesn’t spend 24-hours, seven days a week online.
That’s why the average consumer doesn’t need a $50, $60, or $70 a month unlimited high speed data cell phone plan. Save money and apply for Life Wireless!
Get free wirless with Life Wireless
Life Wireless offers government subsidized cellular services through the Affordable Connectivity Program to qualifying individuals and families.
If you’re unemployed or participate in a government benefit program such as SNAP, Medicaid, Federal Public Housing Assistance, SSI, or WIC, you already qualify for this Federally funded free cellular service. As a participant, you receive the following, free, each month: Unlimited talk, text and data, and a free smartphone or you can bring your own.
Even if you’re paying just $20 a month for cell service, wouldn’t you rather have that $240 to put toward your emergency fund or pay down debt? It takes just a few minutes to complete the application. Do so now, and you could be cutting your monthly cell phone bill to nothing in no time.
Plus, if you’re approved for Life Wireless/Lifeline Assistance Program and sign up for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), you get two sources of free talk, text, and unlimited data that you can split between two phones. That means free cell service for you and free cell service for someone you love. If your child has been asking for a cell phone, this is a terrific opportunity to provide him or her with talk, text, unlimited data and the ability to stay in touch with you!
Of course you don’t have to split the service between two phones, you can keep it all on one. But it’s a wonderful option if your spouse, child or relative needs a phone – and who doesn’t? – but has been unable to get one due to the expense.
Whichever option you choose – to keep the data on one phone or split it between two – Life Wireless will make sure you receive the free talk, text, and unlimited data to help you stay connected.
Option 1: Combine Your Data
Activate Lifeline and ACP on the same device and receive unlimited talk, text, and data, plus 5GB of mobile hotspot.
Option 2: Split Your Data
Split your data between two phones or supported devices and you’ll have one device with ACP’s free talk, text, and 6GB of data and a second device with Lifeline’s talk, text, and 4.5GB of data (6GB of data in California).
Keep more of your hard-earned money with Life Wireless. Start now!
What our customers are saying:
“Without this phone I would be lost. It has helped me stay in contact with my daughter’s specialist. I schedule her appointments and they can call back if there are any complications with her results. Thank you, Life Wireless.” Amanda Z., PA
Posted 1 year ago