Kellen
Shopping for a wireless phone plan isn’t that fun these days. Prices are going up, options are limited, and the freebies we once enjoyed as a part of plans are starting to disappear. But let’s say you have a big budget because you need all of the data and travel access and texting to other countries and early upgrades, which wireless plan (and from which carrier) should you throw your money at?
The two newest options that tick all of those boxes are from T-Mobile and Verizon. T-Mobile’s new Go5G Next plan is its most expensive, while Verizon’s new Unlimited Ultimate will happily increase your bill. If choosing between the two, because you have a big boy wallet, there are certainly a bunch of features to consider that may move you one way or the other.
Let’s run a little comparison of these new super expensive plans, shall we?
T-Mobile Go5G Next vs. Verizon Unlimited Ultimate
The first thing we almost always look at for new wireless plans is pricing, and it’s weird for me to say this, but T-Mobile’s new plan is more expensive than Verizon’s. The days of T-Mobile being the semi-budget option appear to be behind us. That said, T-Mobile offers numerous freebies that would end up saving you more money in the long-run, assuming they keep those freebies around.
In the table below, you get a clear picture of which features make T-Mobile Go5G Next a better option than Verizon’s Unlimited Ultimate. However, there are some advantages to Verizon’s plan, namely that price if you aren’t interested in T-Mobile’s freebies and plan to use more than 100GB of data per month.
| T-Mobile Go5G Next | Verizon Unlimited Ultimate | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per single line (with autopay) | $100 | $90 |
| Price with 4 lines (with autopay) | $225 | $220 |
| Premium 5G data | Unlimited Potential throttling at >100GB data | Unlimited |
| Hotspot | 50GB | 60GB |
| Talk & text | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Perks | Free Netflix, Apple TV+ included | Perks available at $10 each |
| International data | 5GB high-speed per month | 10GB high-speed per month |
| International talk/text | Unlimited text (calls $0.25/min) | Unlimited talk/text |
| Canada/Mexico | Unlimited talk, text, and 15GB high-speed data | Unlimited talk, text, and 2GB high-speed data per day |
| Video streaming | Up to 4K | Up to 4K |
| Other discounts | -Free inflight texting/WiFi -Free year AAA membership | -50% off 2 watch, tablet, hotspot plans |
| Upgrade offers | Included | Included |
| Early upgrades | Included - every year | Not included |
Alright, so Verizon is $10/mo cheaper for a single line and $5/mo cheaper for 4 lines. But again, T-Mobile includes Netflix standard ($15.49 value) and Apple TV+ ($6.99 value) for free each month. They also give you a 1-year AAA membership for free, inflight texting/WiFi access, and upgrades to new devices each year.
Verizon, on the other hand, gives you more hotspot data (60GB vs. 50GB), what appears to be truly unlimited premium data, unlimited international calling when abroad, and discounts on additional devices, like smartwatches or tablets or hotspots. They do not offer early upgrades.
Both carriers suggest they give customers on these really expensive plans a special level of discounts, but we’ll have to see exactly what that means in a year or two.
I think in the end, I’d call both plans absurdly expensive. But look, these are marketed at people with high data usage and who travel. If that’s you, consider testing each for free before making the big decision to switch from one to the other.
Collapse Show Comments19 Comments