Technologies
Best Unlimited Data Plans in 2022
Picking an unlimited plan for your phone isn’t always easy, so we compared the latest and best options for you.

In this article:
- Know your area
- Know your deals and discounts
- Our picks
- More about unlimited data plans and perks
- Unlimited data plans FAQs
It doesn’t matter if you’re an Apple purist or a lifelong Android user — to get the most out of your device you’ll need a good unlimited data plan. Unfortunately, when it comes to finding the overall best unlimited plan, things can be a bit challenging. Unlike with home internet service, where your options are often limited by your location, most people living in the US have their pick of all the major competitors and carriers. And with so many different options, it can be tricky to tell which ones are truly a good value — especially since carriers love to make bold claims about performance and coverage at different prices.
To help you narrow down the best unlimited data plans that are out there, I’m going to focus on the three major carriers — Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T — combing through the multiple postpaid unlimited plans available to find the ones that provide the most perks and value for single lines and for families of four, so that you can find the best plan type for you at an affordable price on your budget.
Know your area
Before we get to the plans, to get the best deal you need to make sure you have the coverage that you need. This makes it very hard for us to give a blanket recommendation of any one carrier. T-Mobile’s service in New York may be excellent, but if you’re in rural Iowa, Verizon is more reliable.
While your mileage may vary, the good news is that these networks are growing and improving all the time, particularly as the three major players race to blanket the US with 5G. It’s quite possible that a decade ago you left a network complaining about its sparse service, but now it’s beefed itself up because of that race to acquire customers.
If you know any friends or family in your area that already use the carrier you’re considering, ask about their experience. You could also go to a carrier’s store and see if they offer any free ways to try out the service before switching over, such as T-Mobile’s Network Pass. Verizon now offers a similar 30-day «Test Drive» program while the Cricket prepaid service just rolled out its own trial program that lets you sample parent AT&T’s network.
Know your deals and discounts
One other thing to keep in mind: discounts. All of the carriers offer additional discounts that you could be eligible for, depending on your employer, military status, student status or age.
First responders, military members, veterans, nurses and teachers can get discounts on every major carrier. Verizon has discounts for students, while T-Mobile’s Work perk could knock 15% off the monthly price of a Magenta Max plan, with AT&T offering a similar program for its Unlimited Elite and Unlimited Premium plans that it calls Signature. AT&T has also rolled out a promotion for teachers that offers 25% off its latest unlimited plans.
If you’re 55 or older, you may also be eligible for a discounted plan: T-Mobile offers discounted plans nationwide for as low as $55 a month for two lines, and Verizon and AT&T offer similar options — but only for Florida residents. Now onto the picks.
Our picks
More about unlimited data plans and perks
AT&T’s unlimited plans no longer have much in the way of perks. The carrier used to offer a free subscription to HBO Max with its top Unlimited Elite offering ($85 for one line, $50 a month if you have four lines), but it got rid of the option in early June.
It is also worth reiterating that carrier perks — like Verizon and the Disney bundle or T-Mobile’s offering of Netflix, Paramount Plus, ViX Plus and Apple TV Plus — are often limited to one subscription per account, not one for each line you have.
Unlimited data plans FAQs
We’ll keep updating this article as new unlimited plans and better deals emerge. In the meantime, if you know of a better wireless plan deal or have your own favorites, message me on Twitter @eliblumenthal.
Read more: Best Streaming Service Deals
Technologies
Bill Gates Has Published the Original Microsoft Source Code
It’s «the coolest code I’ve ever written,» the Microsoft co-founder says.

If you want to see the original source code that started Microsoft, Bill Gates is now sharing it. On Wednesday, the Microsoft co-founder posted it on his Gates Notes blog, reminiscing about the company’s early days for its 50th anniversary. Gates has written plenty of code in those five decades but he called this «the coolest code I’ve ever written.»
Sharing a photo of himself holding a huge pile of paper showing the code, Gates wrote that he was inspired by the January 1975 copy of Popular Electronics magazine. The magazine had featured a cover photo of an Altair 8800, a groundbreaking personal computer created by a small company called MITS.
The 19-year-old Gates and his Harvard pal Paul Allen reached out to Altair’s creators and told them they had a version of the programming language BASIC for the chip that the Altair 8800 ran on. Such software would let people program the Altair.
«There was just one problem,» Gates wrote. «We didn’t.»
Micro-Soft is born
Gates said he and friends «coded day and night for two months to create the software we said already existed.» Gates and Allen then presented the code to the president of MITS, who agreed to license the software. «Altair BASIC became the first product of our new company, which we decided to call Micro-Soft,» Gates wrote. «We later dropped the hyphen.»
And the rest, as they say, is software history. You can download that 50-year-old code from Gates’s post. «Computer programming has come a long way over the last 50 years, but I’m still super proud of how it turned out,» he wrote.
Read more: Best 16 Xbox Games Right Now
Melinda Gates: new book
Also making headlines this week was Gates’s former wife, Melinda French Gates, whose new book, The Next Day, comes out April 15. As that date approaches, she’s opening up about the end of her marriage to Gates.
The couple divorced in 2021 after 27 years and three children. According to People magazine, Melinda French Gates wrote in the book that in 2019 she was «having nightmares about a beautiful house collapsing all around her — and then waking up in a panic night after night.»
She acknowledged what Bill Gates has publicly stated — that he wasn’t always faithful in the marriage — and said she was also disturbed by Gates’s meetings with child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Bill Gates has since said he regrets meeting Epstein.
Melinda French Gates said her bad dreams would eventually change into images of her family on the edge of a cliff where she «plummeted» into a void. «I knew, in that moment, that I was going to have to make a decision — and that I was going to have to make it by myself,» she wrote, according to the People article.
Technologies
The Zelle App Has Shut Down. Here’s How You Can Still Send Money Digitally
The digital payment service has killed its free app, but many banks still support sending money with Zelle.

There are tons of digital payment apps for sending money to friends, family or for paying for services, but if you’ve been using the Zelle mobile app, you’ll need to find something new. The service decided to shutter its free app on April 1.
That doesn’t mean you can’t use Zelle altogether. Zelle has only discontinued its standalone app, so you can still send money using Zelle if your bank belongs to the Zelle network. You’ll just need to do it through your bank’s app or website. You also have other services to choose from. Here’s what you need to know about this change and your options moving forward.
TAX SOFTWARE DEALS OF THE WEEK
-
$0 (save $0)
-
$56 (save $24)
-
$83 (save $32)
-
$28 (save $10)
Why the Zelle app is shutting down
When Zelle launched in 2017, only about 60 US financial institutions offered the service by the end of that year. Today, that number exceeds 2,200. As a result, less than 2% of Zelle transactions occur through the standalone app. Zelle has been phasing out the ability to make transactions on its mobile app since October 2024.
«Today, the vast majority of people using Zelle to send money use it through their financial institution’s mobile app or online banking experience, and we believe this is the best place for Zelle transactions to occur,» Zelle said in an October 2024 press release.
In December, Zelle was in the spotlight when the Consumer Financial Protected Bureau sued the company and three of the largest US banks for failing to protect consumers from widespread fraud on the peer-to-peer payment network. The lawsuit has since been dropped.
Other ways to send money digitally
You can still use Zelle through your bank’s app or website if it belongs to the Zelle network, which includes Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, TD Bank, PNC Bank and Citi.
You can also switch to another digital payment app, such as:
- Apple Wallet
- Cash App
- PayPal
- Venmo
Take some basic precautions when using Zelle or any other digital payment service. These apps are a frequent target for scammers, and Chase Bank has started blocking some Zelle payments it believes could be fraudulent. Only send money to people you know and trust, and watch for red flags like an urgent message claiming to be from your bank or an online ad for concert tickets that seem impossibly cheap.
Technologies
Nintendo Switch 2, Doom Previews and the Game Developers Conference | Obvious Skill Issue Ep. 1
-
Technologies2 года ago
Tech Companies Need to Be Held Accountable for Security, Experts Say
-
Technologies2 года ago
Best Handheld Game Console in 2023
-
Technologies2 года ago
Tighten Up Your VR Game With the Best Head Straps for Quest 2
-
Technologies4 года ago
Verum, Wickr and Threema: next generation secured messengers
-
Technologies4 года ago
Google to require vaccinations as Silicon Valley rethinks return-to-office policies
-
Technologies3 года ago
Olivia Harlan Dekker for Verum Messenger
-
Technologies3 года ago
Black Friday 2021: The best deals on TVs, headphones, kitchenware, and more
-
Technologies4 года ago
iPhone 13 event: How to watch Apple’s big announcement tomorrow