Choosing the right bucket for your family data plan
Data Sharing Plans
Verizon introduced Their Share Everything plans. You can share a bucket of data with your different devices. AT&T announced its Mobile Share plans where you can share a bucket of data with your devices.
Comparison Is Not That Easy
With the plans it should be a simple thing to just look at the AT&T site and the Verizon site and choose the best deal, right? Or better yet, go to Broadband Expert and find the best plan. It should be as simple as that, but AT&T and Verizon are not cooperating to make that choice easy.
Warning: Different Add-On Prices Dependant Upon Data Size
First, each offer different data threshold numbers with the plans. If you need a 1 GB, 4GB, 6 GB or 10 GB plan, your choice should be easy as Both Verizon and AT&T offer data-capped plans at those levels. I say ‘should’ because they both have different prices for the various options, like the cost for adding another smartphone. This cost varies (between $45 and $30) in AT&T’s plans dependant on the data size of the plan you order.
Since it is not that easy, I will run through a couple of scenarios for you.
Scenario A – 1 Smartphone and 1 Tablet:
Data Size Verizon AT&T Notes
1 GB $100 $95
2 GB $110 $110 AT&T overage charge added
4 GB $120 $120
6 GB $130 $135
8 GB $140 $165 AT&T overage charge added
10 GB $150 $160
20 GB $200 $200
As you can see AT&T is better with the 1 GB plan. Verizon is better with 6 GB, 8 GB and 10 GB plans. With all the other plan sizes it is a tie.
Scenario B – 2 Smartphones and 1 Tablet:
Data Size Verizon AT&T Notes
1 GB $140 $140
2 GB $150 $155 AT&T overage charge added
4 GB $160 $160
6 GB $170 $175
8 GB $180 $200 AT&T overage charge added
10 GB $190 $190
20 GB $240 $230
AT&T has better pricing on just the 20 GB plan.
Verizon beats pricing on the 2 GB, 6 GB and 8 GB data limits. The 8 GB limit price saves $20 a month over AT&T.
The other plans are a push.
Scenario C – 2 Smartphones, 1 Hotspot/USB and 1 Tablet:
Data Size Verizon AT&T Notes
1 GB $160 $160
2 GB $170 $175 AT&T overage charge added
4 GB $180 $180
6 GB $190 $190
8 GB $200 $220 AT&T overage charge added
10 GB $210 $210
20 GB $260 $250
AT&T still has better pricing on just the 20 GB plan by $10 a month.
Verizon beats pricing on the 2 GB and8 GB data limits. The 8 GB limit price saves $20 a month over AT&T.
All other pricing is the same.
Scenario D – 4 Smartphones, 1 Hotspot/USB, 3 Tablets and 2 basic phones:
Data Size Verizon AT&T Notes
1 GB $320 $330
2 GB $330 $345 AT&T overage charge added
4 GB $340 $340
6 GB $350 $340
8 GB $360 $370 AT&T overage charge added
10 GB $370 $350
20 GB $420 $390
Now the tables are turning a little with AT&T beating Verizon’s pricing on the 6 GB, 10 GB and 20 GB plans. The $20 savings on the 10 GB plan is good, but the $30 monthly savings on the 20 GB plan is even better.
Verizon comes out on top with the 1 GB, 2 GB, 8 GB plans. The 8GB is $10 a month less expensive that AT&T.
Summary
You need to be careful out there when choosing a shared data plan as the cost savings jump from plan to plan depending on what device combinations you happen to have and your data usage.
