Another unlimited mobile broadband plan bites the dust

Another unlimited mobile broadband plan bites the dust - Yahoo! News: "Now that Virgin Mobile has decided to start capping its once-unlimited 3G mobile broadband plan, there's only one national U.S. carrier left that's offering true, all-you-can-eat broadband data. For now.

Virgin Mobile's $40-a-month, unlimited 3G broadband plan instantly became one of the best deals in wireless when it was announced last August, especially given that you could use it with a $150 portable MiFi hotspot on a no-contract basis.

But now comes word from Wired's Gadget Lab that starting February 15, Virgin will begin throttling its 'Unlimited Broadband2Go' users if they bust over 5GB of data a month.

How much slower will your downloads be? Virgin Mobile isn't saying, but given that mobile 3G data can be poky even under the best of circumstances, don't expect to be streaming any Netflix videos once you get throttled. (Incidentally, Wired reports that Virgin will be keep using the 'Unlimited Broadband2Go' name, despite the new 5GB cap.)

So, given that Virgin Mobile's unlimited 3G broadband plan will, as of next month, become quite limited, U.S. road warriors will soon be left with precious few options — well, one option, really — when it comes to true all-you-can-eat mobile broadband data from a national carrier, and even this last remaining option is starting to look shaky.

(Note: Just to be clear, I'm referring to mobile broadband plans for USB modems and mobile hotspots, not smartphone plans — although more and more smartphone data plans are capped, too.)

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