How much LTE mobile data does your family (or just the unrelated people on your mobile phone plan) really need? 10 GB? 20? 40? It depends on what you do with your mobile device and where you use it, but most people don’t use that much. Today, T-Mobile announced new plans designed to compete with similar offerings from Verizon, but that include more data than most people could need.

T-Mobile is pushing a new promotional plan under their “Un-Carrier Amped” brand, because roaming all over North America simply wasn’t enough. The limited-time offer gives every plan subscriber 10 GB of LTE data instead of the 10 GB shared between family members that Verizon is currently advertising. Does that sound like a great deal? Depending on how you use mobile data, it might not be.

T-Mobile notably advertises “unlimited” data, but there’s generally a limit: your data is unlimited, but your high-speed data isn’t. The new plan advertises 10 GB per line on the plan, for an average cost of $30 per line once there are four people, or a total of $120.

This is designed to make a current Verizon promotion, 10 GB of shared data between family plan members for $80, look puny. Yet the promotion is actually more expensive per month than their regular family plans that are comparable to the Verizon plan.

We’re checking with T-Mobile to find out whether this will replace their current, cheaper family plan. T-Mobile says that this is a promotional plan, and the standard cheaper plans they have now aren’t going away. If you’re part of a video-streaming, data-gobbling family, these plans could work if T-Mobile coverage is good in your area and you should check them out while they’re available.

T-Mobile Amps Up its Family Plan: Family Members Get 10GB Each – for Just $30 a Line [T-Mobile]

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