T-Mobile Tosses Data Caps & Speed Limits

T-Mobile US Inc. is revamping its mobile data plans to compete against AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Verizon Wireless and offer an unlimited option against Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) and MetroPCS Inc. (NYSE: PCS).

The operator said Tuesday that it will offer "a truly unlimited nationwide 4G data plan" to new and existing monthly customers. T-Mobile states that there are "no data caps" and "no speed limits" on the new offerings. Since October 2010, T-Mobile has added data speed throttling to customers who hit 5GB on their "unlimited" plan.

If you're on T-Mobile's "Classic" subsidized smartphone contract the new data plan will cost you $30 a month. If you've bought your phone outright or brought another model to T-Mobile's network, the new plan will cost $20 a month under the "Value" contract.

This means that unlimited talk, text and data under T-Mobile's classic plan will cost $89.99 a month.

Why this matters
There's now a clear split between the top four U.S. mobile operators. AT&T and Verizon are pushing shared data buckets with multiple price levels for various data limits. Sprint and T-Mobile are now promoting competing unlimited data plans.

For more

• AT&T Joins Verizon in the Shared Data Pool
• Verizon: One Data Bucket to Rule Them All
• Finding a Data Cap That Fits
• Can Unlimited Data Survive the Trial of Tiers?
• Q1 Scorecard: Wireless Operators Square Off on Data

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Light Reading Mobile