We briefly covered the basics of what unlimited data really means, but now we are going to compare the three primary carriers and their MVNOs QCI data policies. The following information is gathered from a multitude of: personal experience, websites, individual testers, and advertising across the carriers.
What is QCI, QoS, and Network Management? Before looking at this chart below, read our first post that explains: basic network management practices, the first use of those practices, and why the FCC required carriers to be upfront about those practices.
As of January 12, 2023, the information below is researched to the best of our ability – while we have done our best due diligence to verify our sources, the information below is subject to change or could be incorrect.
The table shows the associated carrier plan or MVNO plan along with the amount of (prioritized data) available on the plan. Once the (prioritized data) allotment is used up, most data is given QCI-9 deprioritization. If no (prioritized data) is identified, the plan advertises that all data is prioritized.
Disclaimer on the chart layout: QCI tagging between carriers should not be compared to other carriers. Each carrier handles prioritization differently, but the prioritization logic is still the same: The data plans tagged with a smaller QCI number obtain priority data access before plans tagged with a larger QCI number.
Each carrier uses QCI-6 – QCI-9 tagging differently. This is not a comparison of carriers, rather a layout of how each carrier is balancing their data plans across QCI-6 – QCI-9.
| Verizon | AT&T | T-Mobile | |
| QCI 6: | FirstNet —— Business Unlimited Elite* *Business Unlimited Elite Fast Track Data. Data such as social media & video is QCI7 or lower | Magenta Max Business —— Unlimited Ultimate Magenta (100GB) —— Business Unlimited Advanced (100GB) —— Business Unlimited Select (50GB) —— Prepaid (Varies) | |
| MVNOs: | Google Fi (Varies) | ||
| QCI 7: | Verizon Frontline | Unlimited Premium | Essentials |
| MVNOs: | Consumer Cellular (Varies) —— Mint (Varies) —— Metro (Varies) —— StraightTalk (Varies) —— Tello (Varies) —— US Mobile GSM (Varies) | ||
| QCI 8: | 5G Get More —— Business Pro 2.0 —— One Unlimited for iPhone —— Business Pro 2.0 —— Business Plus 2.0 (100GB) —— 5G Do More (50GB) —— 5G Play More (50GB) —— Prepaid Premium Plus (50GB) —— Verizon Hotspot usage (Varies by plan) | Business Performance (50GB) —— Unlimited Extra (50GB) —— Prepaid Unlimited Plus (22GB) —— Prepaid Unlimited MAX (22GB) —— Prepaid By-The-Gig Plans (Varies) | Hotspot usage: assumed, but not confirmed on all plans |
| MVNOs: | US Mobile’s Unlimited Premium (with 5G device) (100GB) —— Visible+ (50GB) —— Xfinity Unlimited Premium (50GB) —— US Mobile’s Unlimited Basic (with 5G device) (40GB) —— Lexvor Unlimited Go Max (20GB)* *(40GB) with $5 speed up option —— SafeLink By-The-Gig Plans (Varies) —— TracFone By-The-Gig Plans (Varies) —— Xfinity By-The-Gig Plans (Varies) | Consumer Cellular (Varies) —— Cricket Wireless* (Varies) *Except Unlimited Core —— StraightTalk* (Varies) *75mbps speedcap —— PureTalk (Varies) | |
| QCI 9: | Deprioritized Data —— Welcome Unlimited —— 5G Start —— Business Start (2.0) —— Remaining Prepaid Plans —— MVNO Hotspot usage: assumed, but not confirmed on all plans | Deprioritized Data —— Unlimited Starter —— Business Unlimited Starter —— Unlimited Value Plus —— Hotspot usage: assumed, but not confirmed on all plans | Deprioritized Data —— T-Mobile Home Internet |
| MVNOs: | Lexvor —— Red Pocket —— Spectrum —— StraightTalk —— Mobile —— Total —— Twigby —— Xfinity —— US Mobile (other than Warp 5G plans) —— Visible Basic | Boost —— Cricket Wireless Unlimited Core —— Red Pocket |
Please feel free to comment below or contact us with any additions or corrections that you might want to add.
