All of the United States' major wireless carriers either offer unlimited data, or have at one point. But as modern touchscreen smartphones -- especially the iPhone -- are adopted more widely, the carriers have begun cracking down on their heaviest users. Several are throttling data speeds after a usage threshold is crossed, while others have dropped the unlimited option completely.
Some contract-free carriers, like Boost Mobile, offer unlimited wireless data. But you have to pay for the full price of the phone up front, and none of them offers the iPhone.
How have America's major carriers fared when the iPhone slammed into their networks?
AT&T
As recently as when the first iPad launched in 2010, AT&T offered an unlimited data plan for $30 a month ($25 on the 3G iPad). But in June of 2010, after millions of iPhones had been sold on its network, AT&T switched to a much more restrictive plan, selling only 2 GBs per month for $25. Its new tethering plan cost $20 extra to use the same 2 GBs on your laptop or other connected device, instead of $30 for extra tether-only data.
Existing unlimited subscribers were grandfathered in, but a year later AT&T announced that it was throttling data speeds for its heaviest 5 percent of users. And many iPhone 4S buyers who were on a grandfathered plan were confused about a screen that seemed to tell them they'd have to give it up.
Verizon
Verizon switched to roughly the same price structure as AT&T, within only a few months of the iPhone 4's debut on its network. According to Rachel Metz of the Associated Press, 95 percent of Verizon subscribers use enough data to stay within its 2 GB per month plan.
Sprint
There was a bit of a scare earlier this week, as reports like Jordan Golson's for MacRumors referenced a Dow Jones Newswire story that misquoted Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, as saying that his network was throttling the top 1 percent of data users on its unlimited plan. As it turns out, that only applies when roaming, and is already a part of the contract.
Sprint has kept its unlimited everything plan so far, even after adding the iPhone 4S to its lineup. At $79 a month, however, it's already much more expensive than AT&T's 2010 option. Meanwhile, Sprint-owned Virgin Mobile (which doesn't offer the iPhone) is scheduled to throttle unlimited users sometime this year.
T-Mobile
T-Mobile doesn't offer the iPhone. But it has heavily promoted its Android options, which make it similarly easy to use wireless data.
Its $79 per month "unlimited" plan throttles your wireless connection speeds after the first 2 GB in a month, which David Ruddock of the Android Police blog compared to " having unlimited milkshakes - but after the first two, you have to drink them with chopsticks until next month rolls around."
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