Sprint's Boost Mobile has unleashed the so-called "PAYGO Chat Plan" that offers unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited texting, and unlimited mobile-to-mobile for a dollar per day, with daytime minutes running 10 cents per. If the plan sounds vaguely familiar, it should -- it essentially mimics what T-Mobile and others are offering in the prepaid world these days.

[Via Phone Scoop]

New plans being lauded by Vodafone in the UK are going to run mobile internet fiends £7.50 (about $14.80) less than they otherwise would've thanks to the inclusion of unlimited data right in the bundle. The packages start at £25, and those over £40 also get their pick of unlimited texts, unlimited landline calls, or unlimited Vodafone-to-Vodafone calls. As any skeptic could've easily guessed, there's some critical fine print attached to the deal: the "unlimited" isn't so unlimited, getting capped at 500MB as part of Voda's fair use policy. For a sub-$15 plan that's not intended for tethering, that doesn't seem to be a problem -- but seriously, why even throw the word "unlimited" out there then?

Verizon Wireless has been slow to catch up with the smartphone data access plans offered by competing carriers, with premium prices and some confusing options, but things are taking a real turn for the better. The new "E-mail and Web for Smartphone" plan goes for a mere $30 a month when paired with a qualifying voice plan, and is available with the SMT5800, XV6800 and the MOTO Q9m, with other devices to hop on board in the coming months. Verizon's press release is very careful to tout unlimited email and web browsing, not data, and we have a feeling Verizon will be clamping down pretty hard on anybody trying to tether with this plan.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Among other fascinating tidbits to come out of AT&T's press lunch yesterday, we really appreciated this one: AT&T made the decision to roll out an unlimited plan in all of four hours. Four. As molasses-like as companies of AT&T's size tend to be, you have to be at least a little impressed at the fact that the bigwigs went from noticing Verizon's press release to figuring out the details and unleashing their own announcement within the same day; CEO Ralph de la Vega was, praising his team's response time during the lunch. On a related note, he was asked why he felt compelled to respond quickly to Verizon's move, but not to Sprint's more competitive pricing, to which he responded that AT&T considers Verizon a "quality" competitor. Burn! You feel that, Sprint? That's the biggest carrier in the country delivering a family-size helping of disrespect.

So yes, as we reported, Alltel ended up announcing its foray into the wide world of unlimited calling on Friday with its so-called National Freedom Unlimited plan. As we also reported, Alltel is really trying to downplay the package; it's nowhere to be found on the carrier's home page, and a quick gander at its latest press releases reveals nothing about it. Why the hush-hush? Alltel's insistent that its My Circle packages continue to offer a better value -- in other words, they're offering a totally unlimited plan simply to keep up with the Joneses. You might say that Chad (Alltel's lovable frontman) wants you to have 1, 5, 10, or 20 friends, and not a single buddy more, but if you insist on putting a permanent end to your minute-counting ways, expect to shell out $99.99 monthly for the privilege.

Rumor has it Alltel will be jumping on the bandwagon along with... oh, pretty much everyone else now -- including fellow mega-regional US Cellular -- to offer an all-you-can-eat voice plan starting tomorrow. Interestingly, the internal announcement emphatically reminds salesfolks that My Circle is still the best option for pretty much everyone; they basically stop just short of saying that they're rolling out the plan only to be able to say they have it, just like everyone else. Indeed, with 20 peeps in Alltel's My Circle 20 package, it's hard to justify the need to shell out $100 a month unless you're calling a wide variety of people and calling them all the friggin' time, but hey, Alltel's gotta keep up with the Joneses, right? We'll find out tomorrow if this is legit, but given the way the market has been going, we've no reason to believe it's not. Follow the break for the full announcement.

[Thanks, Miles]

If data isn't a priority, there's a way to save yet another $10 off Sprint's just-announced "Simply Everything" unlimited plan. For $89.99, it turns out that the carrier is willing to serve up all the domestic yapping you can handle, along with limitless messaging and Direct Connect. For a mere $10 on top of that, it seems like the addition of data is a no-brainer -- but then again, we know a lot of people that don't even know (or care to know) how to get to their carrier's mobile portal, so we imagine they'll activate a few of these.

[Via MobileBurn]

Check yourself before you wreck yourself, fools, because Verizon's most expensive BroadbandAccess data plan is about to get a whole lot less unlimited. Yes, true, there's already a 5GB soft cap on the current plan -- but the worst that'll happen to a chronic violator is a throttled download speed or a termination of the contract. Starting March 2, the best plan offered by the carrier will truly not be unlimited in any sense of the word, to the tune of 49 cents per MB. Yep, that's the overage charge users will pay for busting past that 5GB cap, so use all due caution there. What's a guy got to do to get some truly limitless 3G these days?

[Via MobileBurn]

$99 unlimited plans are all well and good, but if 99 percent of your calls go to peeps that live down the street from you -- or the next island over, as the case may be -- that kind of cash outlay might be overkill. Boost is bringing its $35 per month unlimited calling plan to the tropical paradise with just one catch: it's in your home area only, which in Hawaii's case, means the islands themselves. Unlimited texting runs an extra $5, unlimited web runs another $5, and if you'd like to extend your home area to cover Cali and Vegas, that runs -- you guessed it -- yet one more Lincoln. Calls outside the home area run a stiff 15 cents per minute, though, so the penalty is stiff and swift if the plan gets abused. The deal is already on the market, so talk away -- in between surfing, fishing, soaking in the sun, and whatever else it is you lucky Hawaiians do.

We're still getting over the shock of three of the four nationals suddenly flipping the switch on sub-$100 unlimited plans within hours of each other, but oh, by the way, the onslaught isn't over just yet. Sprint aside, there are still plenty of regionals that don't offer unlimited plans -- along with some that do -- so we expect we're going to see a few more announcements in the coming weeks (or days, considering the pace at which these events have been unfolding thus far). Next to take the podium is US Cellular, revealing a (you guessed it) $99 all-you-can-eat calling plan that will be available to new and existing customers alike, albeit for a limited time. Data and messaging will still require add-on packages to the tune of $25 if you're craving both unlimited bytes and texts, but it still works out to be a decent deal in light of what its primary competitors are offering -- if you exclude Helio, anyway. No word on when exactly folks will be able to sign up for the plan, but US Cellular says details will be posted to its site "soon."

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

After yesterday's barrage of unlimited calling plans left us all terribly underwhelmed, it seems as if Sprint is hoping to emerge as the knight in shining armor by undercutting the oh-so-popular $99 price point. According to unspecified "analysts," the carrier is gearing up to "offer flat-rate calling plans at up to a 40-percent discount to its rivals," meaning that yappers could talk 'til their batteries died (and then some) for around $60 a month. Of course, Sprint has yet to confirm nor deny the reports, but we're all for a price war in the cellular space, regardless.

We had a sneaking suspicion that the lineup of unlimited plans we got wind of earlier this week was just a bit too good to be true, and sure enough, it was. Now that Verizon's Unlimited Plans have gone official right on cue, we're left with three general plans that can each have additional lines tacked on for more dough. The $99 / month Basic Plan seems to include limitless calling only (read: messaging of all types and data still cost extra), while the Select Plan ($119.99 per month) throws in messaging but still demands $1.99 per MB of data. The Premium Plan is the one that's really attractive, offering up unlimited everything (for all intents and purposes) for $139.99 per month or $269.99 for two lines. Needless to say, we're a bit let down, but you can hit up the read link for more details on what's offered.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

We've gotten a flood of tips that the notoriously miserly Verizon is lining things up to offer unlimited calling plans. Starting Tuesday the 19th (of this month) should see the following plans sprout up:

• $100 - Nationwide Unlimited (voice)
• $120 - Nationwide Select Unlimited (voice, SMS, MMS)
• $140 - Nationwide Premium (voice, SMS, MMS, VZNav, VCAST, email)
• $150 - Nationwide Email and Messaging (voice, SMS, MMS, and data)
• $170 - Nationwide Global Email and Messaging (voice, SMS, MMS, and international data)
• $200 - Family plan with two lines, $100 per additional line.

That's not all though. There are even more perks and benefits in store for premium-paying unlimited users:

• 5GB cap on data is out
• No contract extension for current customers
• Available on one or two year agreements
• All plans include Mobile Web 2.0 portal access (skip it)
• No roaming or long distance

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Took long enough for the limited offering to go national, didn't it? Unlimited everything, the holy grail of phone plans, is now available everywhere at Sprint. The Sprint-powered Helio has had an unlimited everything for a while now, and just cut the price to $99 a month, while other carriers have piecemeal "unlimited" offerings like text messaging or in-network calling, but Sprint is the first of the big four to offer a true unlimited everything plan. For $119.99 a month you get unlimited voice, texting, web, email and picture mail, though no mention is made of MMS. The plan should be available now.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Update: We've just been told that the Unlimited Access Pack is still restricted to four markets -- San Francisco, Philadelphia, Tampa, and Minneapolis-St. Paul. To folks in those towns, we envy you. To everyone else, our apologies!

Is it just us, or is this a pretty good deal? Helio has started offering its unlimited plan for $99, down from the $145 it was charging before. In Helio parlance, "unlimited" really does mean unlimited, too: voice minutes, texts, and on-device data usage are all fair game. Of course, tethering isn't offered, which is probably the only thing preventing a deluge of people signing their names on the dotted line to get in on the action, but it still seems to be a solid offering any way you slice it. The MVNO had offered the $99 unlimited plan previously before jacking up the price (and indeed, the triple asterisk beside the price leads to some fine print that says "limited time offer"), so if this piques your interest, you might want to get in sooner rather than later.

[Thanks, Chris R.]