Avoid the hype

Associated Press

Cellphone carriers are going all in on unlimited data.

T-Mobile ditched its data packages in favor of a single unlimited plan. Sprint slashed the price of its own unlimited plan, making it one of the carrier’s cheapest options. And Cricket Wireless, Boost Mobile and MetroPCS now offer prepaid unlimited data at bargain prices.

But most smartphone users would be wise not to take the bait. Why? “Most individual customers don’t need unlimited data,” says Tammy Parker, a senior analyst for Current Analysis, a telecommunications research firm. “That has always been true, especially for customers who offload a lot of their data to Wi-Fi usage.”

The average smartphone owner used about 3.7 gigabytes of data per month in 2015, according to a June 2016 report from Ericsson, a leading manufacturer of mobile network equipment.

Andres Portela jumped at the chance to buy an unlimited data plan for him and his wife last year. The Tucson, Ariz., couple paid about $200 per month with taxes. Then he realized they only use 10 gigabytes per month between them.

“Honestly, it doesn’t make sense for me to pay for unlimited data because we’re always on Wi-Fi,” Portela says.

Now they each have 6 gigabytes of data and pay about $90 per month combined with taxes.

Unlimited high-speed data plans make financial sense if you use more than 6 gigabytes of data on an individual plan. A family of four needs to collectively use 24 gigabytes or more to make unlimited a good value.

You’ll get more data for your money if you drop an expensive carrier, such as Verizon, which doesn’t offer unlimited data to new customers, or take the whole family prepaid. Just make sure what you gain in savings you don’t lose in service quality.

Your cellphone bill will tell you exactly what you use each month. You can also get an estimate through your carrier’s mobile app or in your phone’s settings. Android users will find their number under “Settings” and “Data usage.” The total given is for a set date range, which you can adjust to align with your billing cycle. Apple users can look under “Settings” and “Cellular data,” but need to manually reset the tally each billing cycle.