The situation calls to make a rundown on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon so that customers can better analyze their existing plans. The aim is to guide customers towards a decision to stay or switch after all of four major service providers in the US announced unlimited data plans over the span of a week.

Blame everything on Verizon who cranked up the competition when it announced an all-new unlimited plan. T-Mobile was quick to respond by taking off the bar on HD streaming and tethering. Sprint then copied the model and launched a promo pricing for same services. Last to join the competition is AT&T who expanded the unlimited data from the original U-Verse and DirectTV restrictions.

Taking the carriers side-by-side, there is a good comparison for unlimited data options. But first be informed that the pricing includes all taxes and fees on all four carriers, thus increasing the total amount, Business Insider reported.

T-Mobile is the cheapest at $160, replete with HD video streaming and unlimited call, texting and data, says MacRumors. Verizon comes in at second for its $180 but it limits 500MB data when roaming to Canada and Mexico. Users will argue that Sprint is cheap at $90 but remember that the pricing is under promo and it will escalate to $190 once the promo ends. Lastly, AT&T pegged their unlimited data plan at $220.

There are other factors to consider as well, like number of lines that the user needs. T-Mobile clearly presents an advantage on pricing but Sprint is the best option for those who need five lines. The advantage returns to T-Mobile in terms of the amount of data before throttling kicks in because it offers 28GB per month as opposed to 22-23GB of the others.

Customers should also consider that all carriers offer hotspot support apart from AT&T. Other factors to consider are strength of service based on locations because the price may be right but spotty connection is a huge nuisance.