This amount of detail makes RootMetrics a great source for gauging overall performance by region. Consumer Cellular shuffled up its monthly plans toward the end of last year, adding more data to some while lowering the cost of others. Like Amazon, Walmart is a go-to spot to find affordable, budget-friendly smartphones and basic cell phones. For the Straight Talk section, the statement "now that you can use SIM cards tied to specific networks for Straight Talk's service" was included. AT&Ts Unlimited Starter option now includes 3 GB of hotspot allowance at the same $65 a month as before, but thats still not as good as Magenta post-tax. Mint Mobiles reliability and customer service were unknown a year ago beyond generally positive word of mouth and the satisfactory experiences of some Wirecutter staffers, but in 2020 the service earned the fifth-highest ranking in PCMags Readers Choice survey and in 2021 climbed to third place. A wireless networks quality isnt something you can assess in a single-letter grade: Coverage and performance usually vary considerably by location. Consumer Cellular does take some criticism for customer service, but it's generally regarded as any easy service for managing your plan and keeping your cell phone costs low. But wherever you live, taxes and fees should hit you equally across all of your optionsexcept for T-Mobiles Magenta plan and the offerings at Boost and Visible, all of which include taxes in their advertised prices. Best unlimited data cell phone plans at a glance 1. Verizon's prepaid offerings are pretty affordable as well, with autopay enrollment dropping the cost of the carrier's 15GB plan to $35 a month. We have seen both average and median data use roughly triple from the first quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2021, going by NPD Groups figures. Mint Mobile - Best carrier on a budget (opens in new tab) Price alone should get your attention: Magenta costs $70 a month for unlimited on-phone data, with 100 GB of it prioritized. (Two lines of Magenta cost $60 each, and four run $35 each.) Crickets own selection of phones for sale is not too impressive, but in this category youre better off buying an unlocked budget Android phone separately. (It split honors with Verizon for the first half of last year.) The cheapest. Metro customers with 5G-capable phones can enjoy T-Mobile's 5G coverage, which now stretches coast to coast. Google Fi is the carrier to go to if you buy one of Google's phones like the Pixel 6a or Pixel 7. The coronavirus pandemic impacted our ability to travel in recent years, so we've placed a great weight on network performance reports from third-party firms including RootMetrics, Opensignal and Ookla. You'll need to figure out how much data you need whether an unlimited plan is required or if you can opt for a cheaper plan with tiered data. You will have to decide if your likely travel patterns are more apt to make this an ongoing problem. Additional Plus and Premium unlimited tiers add hotspot data, higher resolution video streaming and bigger data caps before your speeds are slowed for $55 and $65 each month, respectively. If your usage doesnt fall into our specific categories and you sometimes think in spreadsheets, you can do your own calculations using WhistleOuts carrier-comparison tool. Our ratings for cellular providers are calculated using survey data from more than 100,000 CR members. (Those rates, listed on Verizons site under a shared-plans heading, require signing up for autopay using a checking account or debit card, which does preclude running up points on a travel rewards credit card.) Concentrate on the places where you spend a lot of time and need cell phone service, such as your home, office and frequent hangouts. So the starting price of $35 for its 5 GB plan drops to $30 after three months and $25 after nine; the $45 rate for 15 GB becomes $40 and then $35 in the same way. Determine data usage As a rule of thumb, more data equals higher bills, so work out how much you use per month. We were less interested in exceptionally fast download speeds if the coverage to access those speeds was spotty; consistently good performance in the places where most people live, work, and visit was a higher priority. Visible - Best value carrier for unlimited data (opens in new tab) 3. Opensignals network tests rely on crowdsourcing: Anyone can download the Opensignal app and run tests. Drive testing done by RootMetrics has consistently rated Verizons coverage above that of competitors, most recently in the second half of 2021, but Opensignals crowdsourced app testing also rated Verizon tops in 4G coverage in January 2022. While a lot of this is correct, you missed some huge points. Healthy discounts as you add lines also make Magenta the best family cell phone plan. (After that, T-Mobile might slow your connection to make room for other customers connections, but whether you experience this depends on outside factors like how many customers are in one area and how busy the network is.) "Its mix of coverage, speed, and reliability make it well worth the extra monthly cost." Best Family Plan: T-Mobile. Meanwhile, services keep trying to make themselves harder to leave in various ways beyond installment payment plans; for example, the aggressive discounts on the iPhone 13 from the big three all took the form of two-year or even three-year installment payments zeroed out, except that subscribers who leave early have to pay back the remaining price without that discount. But this comparison tool requires careful reading: Like Google searches, it shows sponsored results before organic ones. Best talk and text plan: Republic . You dont mind buying your own phone separately, since prepaid carriers phone selections are often poor (and some carriers dont offer phones at all). The main selling points for MVNO cell phone carriers when they first hit the market is that they were low-cost alternatives to the major carriers and primarily revolved around no-contract prepaid plans. Best for the most data: T-Mobile Magenta/Magenta Max Coverage first: Verizon Wireless Multiple-line plans: Metro or Consumer Cellular The cheapest plan: Mint Mobile How to determine which network. It should be said that AT&T typically fares well in performance testing. Verizon is the largest cell phone carrier in the U.S., but does that make them the best? 3. Because almost all US-market phones will work on any of the big three carriers, we paid no attention to the phones each carrier or service sells on its own site and in its own stores. As with other carriers, Consumer Cellulars unlimited plan does have limits: After you use 50 GB combined between the lines, the service warns that your access to high speed data will be reduced, and you may experience slower speeds.. All Samsung Galaxy phones come with an Easy Mode that turns the phone's interface into large, easy-to-use, and easy-to-read buttons. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics, old movies and proper butchery techniques. The CDMA foundation of Verizons networkand Verizons decision to launch its 5G service on mmWave frequencies that go unused in many other marketscan limit the compatibility of some unlocked phones. You can also bring your own device to Visible. Boost had planned on reselling T-Mobile until it could launch its own network but is now readying a switch to AT&T, which means customers of Boost (and the other resellers Dish has bought, such as Ting and Republic Wireless) are in for some potentially drastic changes. Information current as of March 21, 2022. Coverage. The best tiered plan at Boost gives you 5GB of data for $25 a month, with 2GB ($15) and 10GB ($35) options as well. AT&Ts and Verizons versions each got a little more real in January, when both carriers launched expanded, faster 5G service on the C-band frequencies they purchased at FCC-run spectrum auctions. But unlike Mint, Cricket only includes mobile hotspot use on its most expensive offering (although the allocation there is a fairly generous 15 GB). T-Mobile has the best unlimited data plan in the business, with its $70 Magenta plan that bakes taxes and fees into the cost of the plan and also lets you use your data when you're overseas (albeit at slower speeds). Visible's Party Pay option, which brought additional discounts as you added lines to a plan, is no more, and that's a bummer. While it isnt the best choice for people who frequently travel outside of the US or who want unlimited data, it is a sounder choice for people looking for maximum coverage. Ive covered the wireless industry since the late 1990smy first guide to cell phone service, written in 1998, devoted much ink to comparing analog and digital cellular. More recent testing by Ookla (opens in new tab) gives T-Mobile a clean sweep of top speeds for both 5G and overall. Carrier Compatibility. However, switching to prepaid, where you pay for service before you use it, can be an easy way to save $10 to $20 a month or more. The Best Cell Phone Plans of 2023 consist of a mix of low-cost plans from small wireless carriers like Consumer Cellular and Google Fi, known as mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) which . The Comcast-backed phone carrier uses a combination of Verizon's cellular towers and Xfinity hotspots to offer nationwide phone coverage, growing to 5 million subscribers after five years in operation. And TracFone doesnt help its cause by prohibiting mobile-hotspot use on all plans except a $40, 8 GB option. Best 5G carrier overall: Verizon. All unlimited plans at Metro get a year of the ViX Plus streaming service, and the MLS Season Pass benefit that T-Mobile customers enjoy has been extended to Metro as well. The $50 plan features 12GB of hotspot data. Youre willing to read the fine print. It also includes far more services than we cover here and shows not just plans with the required amount of data, minutes, and texts, but also those that exceed your needs, producing a cluttered presentation overall. Speaking of devices, Mint sells both iPhones and Android handsets, at a wide range of prices. In August 2021, the Federal Communications Commission rolled out its own reality check: a map of estimated LTE coverage, based on signal-propagation models applied to its own data of cell sites. The perks T-Mobile customers receive continue to set this service apart from rivals. These features may help you choose a less expensive plan. Verizon | 5G Get More | $90/monthBest unlimited premium single-line plan This option from Verizon is the most expensive phone plan you can get, but if money ain't a thang for you, it's the best choice. At 3 GB, its $25 rate is fairly competitive, but its pricing doesnt hold up in more intensive usage scenarios. MetroPCS. . Verizon has fared well when we've tested customer service for phone carriers, and it continues to offer an extensive selection of phones, including Ultra Wideband versions of some phones designed specifically for Verizon's network. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. I'm curious to better understand this comment because my experience with ST (goes back to at least 2016) is that they have always used carried-tied SIM cards and you had to choose the correct one when activating a BYO device. Go Big or Go Small Generally speaking, prepaid service from the smaller carrierssuch as Consumer Cellular, Mint, and Tingbenefits people with modest data needs (web browsing, email, Facebook . And this mid-band 5G, which T-Mobile markets as Ultra Capacity 5G, also provides much speedier service than the low-band 5G that fills out its network and constitutes the most widely available form of 5G among its competitors. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels. For $50 a month, you'll get unlimited data plus the 100GB of cloud storage, but only 5GB of hotspot data. When we've tested LTE speeds, Verizon has come out on top, though the most recent Rootmetrics report (opens in new tab) covering the second half of last year puts AT&T ahead of Verizon for speed. Xfinity's best plan for individuals is its $45 unlimited plan. For four lines, however, T-Mobiles Metro by T-Mobile prepaid brand offers the cheapest deal in our typical usage scenario at $120. Since Verizon sells unlocked phones (although last June, carriers received permission from the Federal Communications Commission to lock them for 60 days after activation to thwart fraud), you can and should save money by using a local prepaid SIM when traveling internationally. Most importantly, it offers US-based phone support and step-by-step manuals and video tutorials for the non-tech savvy, maintains an in-store presence in major retailers such as Target, and offers installment-plan phone purchase options with roughly the same terms as the majors provide. The company doesnt focus on phone sales, so your best option is to bring your own unlocked device, and support is available only online or over the phone. "Boasts a nationwide LTE network with fast download speeds." Metro By T-Mobile you may remember them as MetroPCS currently pushes unlimited data plans with three different offerings at escalating price ranges. Best For Creatives and Pros. (When youre consulting these metrics and a carriers own coverage maps for your local area, dont forget to check a networks coverage in frequent business or vacation destinations, too.). Postpaid costs a bit more and requires decent credit to qualify, but it offers you every phone the carrier sells, usually with no-interest financing, and the service you get should match what you see in the carriers ads. Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. And you face the risk of seeing your bandwidth deprioritized behind that of T-Mobile subscribers, especially when the network is busy. If you're comfortable looking beyond one of the major cell phone providers, you can always try a discount carrier. Whether you're thinking of switching to a new provider or you just want to double-check what your current carrier provides relative to the competition, our best phone carrier rankings can help identify the best wireless service for your budget and your needs. After launching C-Band 5G early last year, Verizon has brought the faster 5G coverage to 175 million people by December 2022. Selecting a network is the trickiest part of picking a plan. At all three carriers, the reach of 5G should expand further as they shut down 3G service and refarm those frequencies into faster 5G. The. However, T-Mobile's acquisition of Sprint, which was completed in 2021, has received additional scrutiny from state regulators in California, and its unclear whether the FTC will allow the deal to go through unopposed. While this only shows the presence of at least basic LTE service5 Mbps downloads and just 1 Mbps uploadsin my own spot checking, its been more accurate than the carriers own coverage maps at warning of dead zones. 1. We also crunched these same numbers for shared-use plans for two and four lines, because so many of you have said you want to see your options for family pricing compared. And as with the 5 GB and 10 GB plans, it covers Verizons low-band 5G but not its C-band or mmWave 5G (which Verizon collectively markets as Ultra Wideband 5G). 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