“Unlimited” is a funny term. Unlimited cell phone plans often come with a long list of footnotes, terms, conditions, and exceptions. Mercifully, all of the Big Three cell companies have, by now, ditched throttling on their highest-paid tiers, and include 5G data access in all their unlimited plans. Yet there are still many differences in the services they offer, and from tier to tier within each company.

Cheaper “unlimited” tiers do offer unlimited talk and text. But they still have rules on how much unlimited data you get before they start throttling your speed, and some “unlimited” plans may throttle your data at any given time. Data throttling is the practice of reducing your data speeds after you hit a certain threshold of data used in a month or during times of congestion. It’s been a fixture of cell service plans for years.

Below, I’ve highlighted what each of the major carriers offers for “unlimited” individual and family plans to help you figure out which unlimited plan is best for you and your budget.

The Best Unlimited Plan Right Now: T-Mobile Experience More

T-Mobile Essentials, Experience More, and Experience Beyond Plans

The Essentials plan (with autopay, taxes/fees not included): 1 Line for $60/month | 2 Lines $90 | 3 Lines $90 | 4 Lines $100 | 5 Lines $125

Experience More (with autopay, taxes/fees not included): 1 Line for $85/month | 2 Lines $140 | 3 Lines $140 | 4 Lines $170 | 5 Lines $200

Experience Beyond (with autopay, taxes/fees not included): 1 Line for $100/month | 2 Lines $170 | 3 Lines $170 | 4 Lines $215 | 5 Lines $260

T-Mobile has the best 5G coverage among the big three, the highest 5G speeds, the fastest downloads and the best overall reliability, according to analysis from OpenSignal and Ookla. The carrier also makes claims to winning on value, when you take into account perks that include entertainment bundles, airplane WiFi, and access to satellite data in emergencies.

T-Mobile has rebranded its unlimited offerings this year but still offers three unlimited talk and text plans: Essentials, Experience More, and Experience Beyond. Only the two Experience plans offer true unlimited 5G data without any throttling or deprioritizing (i.e., making your phone stand in line for data behind other, more important, phones during peak demand.)

If cost is more important to you than perks, and you don’t travel a lot internationally, the Essentials plan is what we recommend for people with big families. It’s no frills, just the phone, ma’am, with no subscription money going to streaming services or international carrier fees. Your hotspot is limited to 3G speeds if you’re a laptop warrior, an important consideration for many, and video streaming is 480p. But at its price point, Essentials is the only plan to offer premium data (up to 50 GB) that won’t be throttled. If youy’ve got home WiFi, that 50GB should be sufficient for most people. Besides, it’ll teach your teens how to budget, and how to ask for the WiFi password instead of using their own data. But take note: Data in Canada and Mexico will be so slow you might as well have an old flip phone.

In 2026, we will see the beginning of precision medical forecasting. Just as there have been remarkable advances in weather forecasting with the use of large language models, so will there be for determining an individual’s risk of the major age-related diseases (cancer, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative). These diseases share common threads, such as a long incubation phase before any symptoms are manifest, usually two decades or more. They also have the same biologic underpinnings of immunosenescence and inflammaging, terms that characterize an immune system that has lost some of its functionality and protective power, and the accompanying heightened inflammation.

The science of aging has given us new ways to track these processes with body-wide and organ clocks, along with specific protein biomarkers. That enables us to determine whether a person or an organ within a person is aging at an accelerated pace. Along with that, new AI algorithms can see things that medical experts cannot, such as accurately interpreting medical images like retinal scans to predict cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases many years in advance.

These added layers of data can be combined with a person’s electronic medical records, which include their structured and unstructured notes, lab results, scans, genetic results, wearable sensors, and environmental data. In aggregate, this provides an unprecedented depth of information about the person’s health status, enabling a forecast for risk of the three major diseases. Unlike a polygenic risk score which can detect a person’s risk for heart disease, the common cancers and Alzheimer’s, precision medical forecasting takes it to a new level by providing the projected temporal arc—the “when” factor. When all of the data is analyzed with large reasoning models, it can provide a person’s vulnerabilities, and an individualized, aggressive preventive program.

We already know the risk of these three diseases can be reduced with lifestyle factors, such as an optimal anti-inflammatory diet, frequent exercise, and a regular, high-quality sleep pattern. But, along with attention to these factors, which are far more likely to be implemented when an individual is cognizant of their risk, we will have medications that will promote a healthy, protective immune system and reduce body-wide and brain inflammation. Already the GLP-1 medicines have been shown to be a front-runner for achieving these goals, but many more medications are in the pipeline.

The potential for precision medical forecasting has to be demonstrated and validated via prospective clinical trials that show, using the same metrics of aging, that a person’s risk is decreased. An example for people with increased risk of Alzheimer’s is the blood test known as p-tau217, and that risk can be markedly reduced with improved lifestyle factors, especially exercise. That could be confirmed with a brain organ clock and body-wide aging clocks.

This is a new frontier in medicine—the potential for primary prevention of the three age-related major diseases that compromise our health span and quality of life. It would not be possible without the advances in both the science of aging and AI. For me, this is the most exciting future use of AI in medicine: an unparalleled opportunity to prevent the major diseases from occurring, something that has been dreamed about but has not been possible at scale due to the deficiency in data and analytics. In 2026, it finally will.

The UK government has reached a milestone in its programme to boost rural connectivity, announcing that more than 100 mobile network masts in traditionally underserved regions have been upgraded to deliver 4G coverage from all major mobile network operators.

Launched in 2020, the £1.3bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme is a joint initiative between the government and the UK’s four mobile network operators – EE, VMO2, Three and Vodafone – to extend 4G connectivity to 95% of the UK’s landmass by the end of 2025. The founding principle is that through both public and private investment, new and existing phone masts will be built or upgraded across the UK to close down so-called rural mobile notspots.

Under the scheme, the four operators committed to improving 4G coverage and levelling up connectivity across the UK, which has seen them invest in a shared network of new and existing phone masts, overseen by a jointly owned company called Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited (DMSL). The operators’ £532m investment has been complemented by more than £501m in government funding.

According to the latest Connected nations report from UK communications regulator Ofcom, 96% of the UK now has coverage from at least one mobile network operator, up from 91% when the programme started in March 2020. To date, the SRN programme has already delivered mobile coverage to an extra 9,500 premises and 1,400km of roads.

These improvements are said to be transforming connectivity in areas that were previously not served by all mobile network operators.

Across Wales, Scotland and England, 105 masts have been upgraded over the past year – 44 in Wales, 33 in Scotland and 28 in England – providing reliable coverage to over 400 businesses.

In addition, 4019km² is the cumulative area of the UK predicted to be reached with an outdoor 4G signal from all mobile networks through the new masts. New coverage will also be available in 10 national parks across England, Scotland and Wales, including Eryri National Park and the Lake District.

Commenting on the upgrade, UK telecoms minister Liz Lloyd said: “More of Britain’s rural communities are finally getting the connection they’ve been waiting for as we deck the hills with 4G coverage. These 100 upgraded masts mean businesses can ring up sales, families can video call their loved ones this Christmas without buffering mid-conversation, and our beautiful rural areas can attract the investment, jobs and tourism they need to thrive … rural communities are finally getting the connections they deserve, boosting opportunity and growth as we drive forward plans for national renewal.”

Ben Roome, CEO of SRN delivery partner Mova, said Christmas is a time for connection, and this year, more rural communities than ever would be able to share that spirit.

“With the 100th site activated, in Llanfair on the border between England and Wales, these publicly funded masts can connect families, friends and businesses across a cumulative area of over 4,000km², irrespective of mobile provider. This achievement is a testament to what can be accomplished when government and industry work together. Since the Shared Rural Network began, 4G coverage from all four operators has grown from 66% to over 81% of the UK, an increase equivalent to the size of Wales and Northern Ireland combined,” he added.