T-Mobile Puts the Asterisk in Unlimited* Data Plans

T-Mobile today announced new smartphone contract rate plans that increase in price based on the number of voice minutes and the amount of 4G mobile broadband data a customer wants in a given month. Customers can go over their 4G broadband limit, but the carrier will then deliver data at slower speeds for the remainder of the month. The operator also launched no-contract plans called Monthly4G that offer unlimited talk, text and web access starting at $50 and follow the same tiered data approach as the contract plans; once customers hit their data limit, access speeds will be throttled down.