It’s a given that less is more in terms of data plans these days — in a manner of speaking, that is. AT&T and Verizon are both slapping customers with data limits based on increasingly  higher prices (with the latter even dead set on dropping the last vestiges of unlimited by force with any new subsidized smartphone upgrades). Of the two carriers that still offer unlimited, only Sprint is left standing without any sort of “throttle caps” arrangement — that is, the act of slowing down network-level bandwidth to a mobile device after the first 2 gigs of data use is gone.

Or is it?

Turns out that T-Mobile USA — which is the throttle cap purveyor mentioned above — wants to follow Sprint’s example. T-Mobile got rid of bandwidth caps a long time ago but it continued to limit data usage by throttling the connection speed of users who used over X GB a month. T-Mobile has now introduced a new plan that offers truly unlimited data — no bandwidth caps or speed throttles. The plans come in at $20 for value plan users and $30 for classic plan consumers; you can switch to them now — just call up T-Mobile.

Take note that T-Mobile USA does not have a LTE network like AT&T and Verizon Wireless (T-Mobile uses a “4G” HSPA+ network which, while fast, isn’t even close to what LTE offers) so you may be getting unlimited data but you won’t get unlimited LTE data. Also note these new plans do not include tethering — you have to pay extra for WiFi hotspot. Of course you could try to tether without paying but T-Mobile will likely block your tethering access if you are caught.

While it’s undoubtedly too late for Big Red’s customers for this idea to be introduced — and probably the same as well for the “striped orb” — it’s nice to actually see somebody taking a stand against data limits once more.

[via Engadget]