Net10 Wireless Unlimited Data

As a reader pointed out to us, that’s a pretty significant asterisk on the “unlimited” claim.

Here’s what Net10 really offers for $40 a month: 500 MB of high-speed data, and then unlimited “reduced speed” data for the rest of the month after you use those 500 MB. For $60, you can get 3.5 GB of high-speed data before getting shifted to the slow lane, and for $75 you get 5 GB before moving to the slow lane. There is no option that provides unlimited high-speed data. So while your data is unlimited in the strictest sense of the word, your access to high-speed data is not.

Will you hit that 500 MB limit? If you use your phone to stream videos, definitely. If you use your phone to stream music, download pictures, or browse the web — probably. Just check emails and light web browsing? Maybe not. Most cellphone companies have online calculators that allow you to guesstimate your monthly data usage.

If an advertising claim seems to good to be true, it probably is. There aren’t many phone plans that provide unlimited data, and even fewer that do so cheaply. For more on cellphone advertising, click here.