US Mobile Suddenly Limits Its Unlimited Plan to 75GB!

US Mobile Suddenly Limits

This is everything you need to know. So when US Mobile launched their previous version of their unlimited plan on March 8th, 2021, they said they were going all in. Full speed data, 5G included, no data caps, as low as $25 per line with taxes and fees included. And in their Reddit post, they even emphasized uncapped and unthrottled speeds. These plans were awesome. And you can even watch my video here about the announcement, just to see how excited I was. So what happened, why did it happen and what does it mean for you? Well, what happened was this. Five months later on Friday, August 13th, 2021, which was yesterday, US Mobile suddenly capped their unlimited plan, to 75 gigabytes. They sent this email to their customers.

"Hello, beginning today, a tiny fraction of userswho use more than 75 gigs of datain a single billing cycle may experienceslower speeds until the end of their billing cycle.This should affect less than 0.1% of our customers,most of whom are using modems and routers.If you use less than 75 gigs, monthly,your speed and experienceon our Unlimited All plan will remain the same."

And you can even see US Mobile updated their website to reflect this new 75 gig limit for people who sign up on their super LTE network. The next big question is, how fast are these reduced speeds? I checked your US Mobile's terms of service and they appeared to lack this information.

Thankfully, I was able to chat with a support rep and I was told the reduced speeds would beat one megabit per second. So the updated plan now includes 75 gigs of data at full speeds and then unlimited data at one megabit per second.

The next big question is, why is US Mobile doing this?

When US mobile launched their new unlimited playback in March, I thought they had struck a deal with Verizon.US Mobile uses Verizon to provide coverage and Verizon's own flanker carrier Visible offers basically the same plan, truly unlimited data for as low as $25 per month with their party pay discount.

So I thought, "Hey, that's cool.Verizon is giving US Mobile access to the same agreement to provide unlimited data."

But it turns out this wasn't true.US Mobile was actually paying Verizonper gigabyte of data that US Mobile customers were using on the Verizon network.

This meant US Mobile was losing money on high data users. The way it worked is basically US mobile launched the unlimited plans to appeal to customers, looking for unlimited data. And US Mobile knew that about 96% of average consumers would use less than 50 gigs of data per month. Those customers would be profitable. But they also knew a handful of people would use over 50, 75, or even a hundred gigs of data per month, and potentially cost them money.

US Mobile carefully did the math on this, and they realized if they had enough profitable customers, they could cover the losses of the high data users and still make money in the end. And that's exactly what they did.

That's what allowed them to offer truly unlimited plans in the first place. So what changed?

US Mobile basically wanted to stop losing money. That's what happened. As US mobile shared in their Reddit post, quote,

"There will always be the smallest fractionof customers that will take advantageof our unlimited data to run up enormous amountsof data usage on modems and routers.That makes it harder for us to offer lower pricesto the rest of our customers."

Ahmed even shared on Twitter, that they saw people using over one terabyte of data early on. That's over 1000 gigabytes. These people were using PDAnetto to circumvent hotspot thresholds and essentially use the service to replace their home internet. What's also interesting is Ahmed shared he believes US Mobile got a unique insight into the high data user market, and that it costs them a significant amount of money to get that.

So, yes, these high data users were costing US Mobile a lot of money. And the whole reason the 75 gig limit is here isso US Mobile can stop losing money and can migrate those customers off of their network onto a different plan.

How many people is this affecting?

The email says less than 0.1% of subscribers. So out of 100,000 people, that would be under 100 people affected, and out of 1 million people, that would be just under 1000 people affected.

What does this change mean for you?

Well, if you're part of that 0.1% of people using over 75 gigs of data per month, then it means it's probably time to move on. You're going to be better off with Visible'struly unlimited plan for $25, or by getting a plan from Verizon themselves. Or if you were using the service to replace your home internet, then maybe it's time to consider Verizon's  LTE home internet service, or possibly even T-Mobile home internet. For everyone else though, the 99.9% of you or whatever, using under 75 gigs of data per month, you're going to be totally fine. I still believe that US Mobile is offering some of the best cell phone plans in the industry on the Verizon network.

They have a beautiful dashboard, great pricing and perks, and an awesome data usage analytics tool. And heck you could even use the data usage analytics tool to monitor your data usage and see if you're getting anywhere close to going over 75 gigs of data per month.

And finally, what's next for US Mobile?

Well, the extra money they're saving means they're going to be able to give back to you, the customer. They have teased plans with post-paid priority data.

Yes, you heard that right.

Coming in Q4 2021, a five gig hotspot add-on for just $5 for their unlimited plans, ultra-wideband 5G access coming soon, eSIM coming soon, and visual voicemail for super LTE coming soon as well.

All of this is super exciting, but unfortunately, as Reddit user Fine-Ability points out on Reddit, "coming soon," is US Mobile's trademark phrase.

Who knows when these features will actually launch?

We've been promised eSIM and ultra-wideband 5Gfor months now. And they're still not here. My best guess is that if we're lucky, maybe, just maybe, we'll see them sometime before December of this year. And I think that brings me to what the overall bigger problem is with US Mobile. The problem is not them limiting their unlimited plan to 75 gigabytes. That actually makes a lot of business sense to me. And if we're being honest, it's something we all thought would happen in the back of our minds.

And the problem isn't even their current plan offerings. I still believe those are great options and will continue recommending US Mobileto people looking for low-cost plans on the Verizon network. Now, what the problem is with US Mobile is the delta or difference between the expectations they are setting and the service they are actually offering. As Marques Brownlee says,

"expectations are the thief of joy."

I personally feel disappointed in US Mobile because they are making promises that they can't keep and announcing features that aren't ready. And having the promise of a truly unlimited data plan taken away after just five months and turned into a 75 gig plan feels like a little salt added to a wound.

Yes, I agree with US Mobile's decision to limit the plan, and I think it makes a lot of sense, but I wish they had launched the plan at 75 gigabytes to begin with, so people knew exactly what they were getting into. And as for the promised features, I think US Mobile should stop talking and start doing.

Don't promise anything more. I don't want to hear it. The priority data by Q4 2021 honestly just sounds like another deadline you're going to miss. Instead, focus on building. I want you to tell me about a new feature when it's literally already been out for two weeks and we somehow missed it.

Then I'll listen. But what do you all think of US Mobile?

Do you agree with what they've done here? Or do you disagree?

When do you think we'll actually see their new features?

Let me know with a comment down below. I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thank you for watching and I'll see you next time.