Why you may be able to finally ditch that old unlimited plan
Q. Do I still need my unlimited-data plan? I've been holding onto it for years.
A. Things have changed since last year, when I contemplated this question and suggested that most people would be fine spending less on increasingly-generous limited-data plans.
Sprint and T-Mobile have renewed their unlimited-data offerings. The latter has begun suggesting that unlimited (but with constraints on the quality of streaming video and your ability to share your bandwidth over WiFi with a laptop or tablet) will become its only offering at some point.
AT&T, meanwhile, has resumed selling unlimited data but reserves this new $100 plan for customers who also subscribe to its DirecTV or U-verse TV services. Verizon has yet to reconsider; chief financial officer Fran Shammo recently said at an investor conference that "people don't need unlimited plans."