H2O Wireless is going to be updating nearly all of its plans with more data and more unlimited calling countries. A new featured offering will be a $50 plan or $45 with autopay billing enabled, which will include unlimited* talk, text, and LTE data. The plan updates are scheduled to go into effect on June 1, 2020.
H2O Wireless Plan Updates Highlighted
Except for H2O Wireless's $60 unlimited plan, all plans will be updated with either more data or a lower price point. Let's take a look at what's coming and how things will change compared to what is currently available.
All H2O Wireless plans include unlimited talk and text. Unless stated otherwise, all plans also include unlimited data with the specified amount at high-speeds before throttling to 2G data speeds or 128 Kbps. Autopay billing prices are shown in parenthesis and the amount of data included at each price point is highlighted.
- $20/month ($18) - 2GB LTE data, previously included 1GB
- $30/month ($27) - 6GB LTE data, previously included 5GB
- $40/month ($36) - 15GB LTE data, previously included 10GB
- $50 ($45) - unlimited* LTE data plan, previously included 15GB
- $60 ($54) - unlimited* LTE data plan plus mobile hotspot. No changes to this plan
*On the $50 plan, H2O Wireless considers unlimited LTE data to be equal to 24GB before throttling to data speeds of 128Kbps. On the $60 plan, unlimited LTE data is considered to be equal to 30GB before throttling to data speeds of 128Kbps.
The only plan to allow hotspot usage is the $60 plan, and customers may use all of the plans high-speed data for hotspot if they so choose.
H2O Wireless's current phone plans all come with unlimited calling to over 50 countries. When the plans update in June, the number of international calling countries will increase to 70. The $60 plan will for a limited time include 71 international calling countries, with the addition of Pakistan. Plans priced $40 and up currently come with a $20 international calling credit to call countries not part of the 50 that are included with each plan. Plans priced $30 or less include a $10 international calling credit. It is not known at this time if those credits will change when the plans get updated. However, customers will be able to add new $5 or $10 international talk credits to their plans through their local dealer store. Rates to call those other countries will also be lowered.
One other important thing to note is that H2O Wireless considers LTE data speeds to be equal to a maximum of 8Mbps download with video streams limited to a resolution of 480p. I have not yet heard if either of these two things will be changing once the plans get updated.
H2O Wireless operates on the AT&T network. Taxes and fees cost extra with each plan.
Editor's Take
As always, improved plans are great to see. If you can get past the possible data speed restrictions, H2O Wireless is offering a lot of value for the price with most of its plans. However, not all is great here. Unfortunately it appears that H2O Wireless is going to continue to call plans "unlimited LTE data plans" when they are not truly unlimited. H2O Wireless is not the only provider on the market to advertise its plans as being unlimited when they aren't. Straight Talk Wireless, for instance, considers 60GB of data to be unlimited. This is a practice that providers should stop doing as it is misleading to consumers.