By Ryan Whitwam
In past years, "unlimited" mobile data actually meant unlimited. Today, there are myriad limits placed on the so-called unlimited plans sold by Verizon, T-Mobile, and others. For example, Verizon's unlimited plans throttle your video streams to a lower bitrate than other data. If you really want to get around that limit, Verizon will now be happy to take more of your money every month to do away with video throttling.
Video throttling on mobile plans gained traction recently when T-Mobile introduced its Binge On service. That granted customers unlimited video streaming that didn't count against their capped plans, but the video would be limited to 480p (standard defin- ition). T-Mobile kept this restriction when it moved to offering only "unlimited" plans. Other carriers were apparently watching keenly to see if Tmo could get away with video throttling, even- tually implementing their own versions.