AT&T, Verizon Wireless Roll Out $99 Unlimited Plans

Update: And now T-Mobile is jumping on the all-you-can-chat bandwagon, too.

Attention, chatters: now you can talk all day, every day for $99 a month. Pretty nice, especially for those who don't know the meaning of "keep it short," although data plans will still cost extra.

The $99/month plans, available now on Verizon Wireless and by February 22 on AT&T, are more or less self-explanatory: unlimited minutes, all the time. The plans mark the first time that any of the big U.S. carriers has offered unlimited calling on a nationwide basis; Sprint launched a $119/month plan for unlimited minutes and text messages last year, but it's only available in a handful of markets, while T-Mobile doesn't have an unlimited plan at all. Updated: Just got word from T-Mobile, which decided to go ahead and unleash an unlimited calling plan: unlimited voice plus messaging for $99 a month.

Each plan has its own particular wrinkles, of course. On the Verizon Wireless side, it goes like this: $99 a month gets you unlimited minutes, but you'll pay more for text messages and V Cast access. For $119/month, you also get unlimited texting (similar to Sprint's pilot plan), while $139/month tacks on V Cast access, VZ Navigator, and e-mail. Broadband data plans are extra: $60/month for 5GB of data, $40/month for 50MB.

For AT&T, you'll be able to get the $99/month unlimited calling plan and then pick and choose between various messaging and data options: for example, $20 a month extra gets you unlimited text and video messaging, while an additional $60/month includes 5GB of data for PDAs and/or PC tethering.

So, are the unlimited plans worth the cash? Of course, that depends on what kind of chatter you are. For example, T-Mobile gives you 1,500 minutes—plus unlimited weekends—for $60 a month. That clocks out to 25 hours of non-stop talking a month, not counting the weekends—an unimaginable amount of chatting for an introvert like me. Then again, if you're a big talker or, say, a business user who's on the phone for hours at a time, $100 a month just might be a bargain considering all the minutes you're using.

OK, show of hands: who's interested in unlimited talking plans? And who out there has a fix on a better deal?

Related:
Press release [AT&T]
Press release [Verizon Wireless]