Today, T-Mobile is introducing an unlimited data plan. No, it"s not a fake unlimited plan like we"ve seen so many times before from every carrier that there is. This is a real one, and that"s the whole selling point. Unlike the Un-carrier"s other unlimited plans, this one offers unlimited high-speed data.
It"s called Magenta MAX, and it"s meant to be built for the age of 5G. The whole promise behind 5G has always been that you"re going to get these blazingly-fast speeds in the gigabit-per-second range, and that you"ll be able to download entire seasons of TV shows while you"re waiting on line to board a plane. The problem with those kinds of promises is that with any kind of existing data plan, your phone would end up being throttled to 3G speeds if you tried to do anything like that.
Of course, these gigabit speeds never happened, and in our own experience in testing 5G on the iPhone 12 Pro Max, that additional bandwidth was sucked up (in just two days) by some app that wanted to download 45GB worth of ads. But now, you won"t get throttled if something like that happens either.
"We just joined forces with Sprint, and we’re already America’s 5G coverage and speed leader. Magenta MAX is just a first taste of what our network capacity allows us to do!" said T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert. "When you’re a heavy data user with a super-fast 5G smartphone, you don’t want to be hit with speed bumps. It’s like having a Ferrari and being forced to drive it in the school zone. Well, now it’s time to open ‘er up on the wide-open magenta road! And we are just getting started. Buckle up!"
It"s going to be $57 per line if you have three lines, and you can get $10 off for a limited time, and it"s actually replacing the Magenta Plus plan, so the prices are the same with the exception of the limited-time promotion. The old Magenta plans are getting improved as well, as you"ll now get throttled after you use 100GB instead of 50GB, and you can use 5GB of mobile hotspot instead of 3GB.
Magenta MAX comes with 40GB of mobile hotspot data, and it also doesn"t try to limit your streaming to standard definition. You can now use it to stream unlimited 4K video, and moreover, family plans come with Netflix Standard, while individual plans come with Netflix Basic. With regular Magenta, family plans come with Netflix Basic.
T-Mobile says that Magenta MAX is the best plan in wireless, and that"s not an overstatement. Every other carrier is offering the same old fake unlimited plan, and promising insane 5G speeds that will put you over your data cap rather quickly.
Update: This article with updated information to reflect that Magenta MAX is replacing Magenta Plus, and that the pricing is the same. However, if you"re on Magenta Plus, you"ll have to change your plan yourself, as it won"t happen automatically.