T-Mobile's new family plan gives everyone unlimited data

With the exception of Sprint, the big four US carriers tend to cap your data on family plans. T-Mobile's current offering only gives one person unfettered internet access, and even Sprint's $100 per month promo asks you to split a finite amount of data with your kin -- not so hot if Junior likes to marathon YouTube shows. Things are looking up, though. T-Mobile islaunching a new (if "limited time") Simple Choice family plan on December 10th that gives everyone unlimited data. The base plan starts at $100 per month for two lines that also include unlimited voice and text, plus 5GB of data tethering per line. That's only half as many included lines as Sprint, but it's a better value if you're willing to pay extra to avoid limits. It beats the stuffing out of what you'll get at AT&T and Verizon, at least. The two carriers respectively start at $130 and $100 for 10GB of data on two lines, and you'll have to pay both for more capacity and more lines.

There's a thriftier option, too. T-Mobile is offering a promo plan that gives four people 10GB of data (2.5GB each) from December 10th through 2015. It's not quite as sweet a deal as Sprint's and will drop everyone down to 1GB of LTE data when 2016 rolls around, but the UnCarrier is counting on its usual perks, like unlimited basic roaming, to seal the deal. The new unlimited plan looks more tempting, though -- it'll cost significantly more, but it's smarter if you know one or more of your family members likes to gobble up bandwidth.