Welcome to another installment of our evergreen financial guides. Whether the market is up or down, fundamental personal finance rules regarding your telecom bills never change.
Think of the wireless network exactly like a massive, multi-lane highway. During rush hour, the carrier has to systematically decide who gets to drive in the fast lane and who gets slowed down. The complicated new family plans we are seeing are fundamentally about selling expensive VIP passes for that highway, cleverly disguised under the marketing umbrella of 'unlimited data' for everyone in the home.
To fully understand why this is happening, it helps to look at the typical family plan trajectory. Especially with massive shifts to remote work and remote learning remaining permanent for many, the average household has more than doubled its cellular data consumption. Carriers are aggressively adjusting their entire pricing models to accommodate this massive strain on their networks.
The impending massive 3G network shutdown is absolutely going to severely brick older tech devices in your household. See our complete checklist for the 3G shutdown, we provide an incredibly comprehensive, massive checklist to help you identify older home alarm systems, e-readers, and backup phones that must be completely replaced before the massive towers go dark.
The 36-month device financing contract has officially become the undisputed industry standard. By quietly extending the payout periods from 24 to 36 months, the massive legacy carriers have completely destroyed consumer flexibility. If you want a new flagship phone, you must accept that you are financially chained to that specific carrier for three full years.
The massive, chaotic unwinding of AT&T's media empire officially defines 2021. After spending roughly $150 billion to acquire Time Warner and DirecTV just years prior, the telecom giant completely reversed course, spinning off both entities to desperately refocus on paying down their massive 5G infrastructure debt.
Privacy and data security became absolutely terrifying concepts this year. With massive telecom data breaches completely compromising the social security numbers and driver's licenses of tens of millions of active subscribers, consumers are realizing that giving carriers massive amounts of personal data to secure a post-paid credit check is an incredibly dangerous gamble.
As the massive hype machine for 5G collides with the reality of an economic recovery, carriers are aggressively blurring the lines between marketing and technical necessity. We are seeing companies push massive $1,200 smartphones equipped with 5G modems, despite the fact that true, high-speed C-Band 5G coverage remains incredibly sparse outside of major metropolitan downtowns.
So, what does this mean for your bottom line? I highly recommend logging into your online account this weekend and reviewing your actual, empirical data usage over the past three to six months. If your family consistently uses less than 15GB combined, do not upgrade to these new unlimited tiers.
Don't let the artificial pressure of a 'limited-time promotion' force you into a rushed, poorly calculated financial decision. In the telecom industry, there will always be another major deal waiting just around the corner.