Best Cell Phone Plans under $60

Visible Wireless serves up amazing value for $45 a month. How about we get you $20 under your $60 budget, and you go use that money you saved to buy yourself some lunch? I'll go buy lunch right now in honor of you.

Visible Wireless offers only one plan, and it's the $45 Unlimited Plan. You don't have to stress yourself out about whether or not you should get unlimited data—it's your only option. Oh, and of course, you get unlimited talk and unlimited text as well. You can basically do anything on your phone without worrying about going over your limits.

What's wild about Visible Wireless is that it doesn't have any data caps either. If there's high-speed data available where you are, you can use as much of it as you want. There's nothing holding you back from streaming YouTube or live NBA games while waiting at the always-super-long drive-through at Chick-Fil-A. (I think we just broke the record for most hyphens in a sentence too.)

Visible Wireless is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), which means it uses a network from a bigger carrier to provide cell service. In this case, Visible Wireless and Verizon are buddies and share the same network. Fortunately Verizon happens to have the best network in the country, covering 70% of the country.¹ Your coverage will especially feel more reliable than usual in rural areas of the country compared to other wireless carriers. Verizon's network is your best bet to make a call while camping or hiking.

Check out the coverage map below to see what kind of network to expect while using Visible Wireless.

Visible Wireless users can be deprioritized in favor of Verizon users. Visible Wireless and Verizon might be buddies, but that doesn't mean that Verizon always plays fair.

Because Visible Wireless is an MVNO, its data speeds can be deprioritized on the Verizon network. When you're out and about, there's a chance that your signal will drop out of the blue when you enter a more crowded area.

Imagine you (a Visible Wireless user) go to finally see Hamilton with your friend (a Verizon user). Your friend's Verizon phone runs out of battery half-way through the show and now it’s up to you to call an Uber to get home. But your Visible Wireless phone becomes deprioritized because of the big crowd, and it can't get a signal strong enough to open the Uber app. Next thing you know, you're walking several blocks down the street looking for some signal bars.

Deprioritization should only be an issue when you're in a big crowd, but it's certainly annoying when it pops up.

Here are some other unlimited plans well under your $60 budget worth your consideration.

It may be right at the ceiling of our budget, but T-Mobile's Essentials plan offers 50GB of high-speed data, which can be hard to find for that price point. Even more, add multiple lines and get Essentials for just $26.25 per month with four lines.

T-Mobile still straps you down with a data cap, but 50GB of high-speed data is pretty generous. Most basic unlimited plans will either have a low data cap or just deprioritize your data in crowded areas.

Seriously, you'll probably have to challenge yourself to use more than 50GB of data in a given month. You could binge-watch Netflix for 21 hours purely off your wireless data, and you wouldn't even reach the halfway point to your data cap.

T-Mobile has the largest 5G network.  It doesn't quite hold a candle to Verizon's nationwide coverage, but T-Mobile is ahead of the 5G game. The main difference between T-Mobile's and Verizon's networks is rural coverage. So, if you live in a city or the suburbs, chances are you'll have very reliable coverage with T-Mobile's network.

Check out the coverage map below to make sure that T-Mobile covers your town.

To get on a T-Mobile unlimited plan, you'll need to max out your $60 a month budget.

All those perks (50 GB data cap, fast data speeds, other cool perks) come at a price, and in this case, it's $60 a month. Unless you are getting multi-line discounts, you'll need to decide if this T-Mobile plan is worth stretching your budget to its maximum. Overall, the Essentials plan offers a lot of value, but it'll cost you a pretty penny to get on the network.

Here are some other unlimited data plans with high data caps and no deprioritization. Visible's $45 plan offers the same 50GB of premium data available with T-Mobile Essentials, making it the perfect choice for users who can't get T-Mobile's multi-line discount. 

US Mobile undercuts the competition and offers the cheapest unlimited plan right now.

At $25 a month, US Mobile's Unlimited Starter Plan shoots to the top of our rankings for one of the cheapest unlimited plans available. It's only a difference of a few dollars or GBs between the top budget unlimited plans, but even a few dollars or extra speed makes a difference when it comes to paying for something monthly.

US Mobile may be subject to deprioritization more than your typical MVNO provider.

By definition, MVNOs can be deprioritized in favor of customers on who are on the main provider's network. For example, Verizon will give its best coverage to its own customers. But what happens if when you have two MVNOs, like Visible Wireless and US Mobile? In this case, Visible Wireless is owned by Verizon, so in terms of the deprioritization food chain, Visible Wireless would beat out US Mobile. US Mobile isn't owned by a major network, so it can be deprioritized even more than your typical MVNO.

Mint Mobile offers some of the best deals in wireless right now, and it's your best bet to get your entire family on a wireless plan for $60 a month or less.

For a family of three, you can get a Mint Mobile family plan that gives each user 15GB of data every month for $60. Splitting it three ways, you're paying $20 a month for 15GB of data, which is unheard of in the wireless world.

Mint Mobile allows you to break down your data allotment for each line basically however you want. For example, if you want more data for yourself (don't feel bad!), but your two kids will still want some wireless data every month, you can go for a $50 plan that will give you 15GB of data for one line, and 5GB of data for two other lines.

The point is, you can divvy out data however you want, and Mint Mobile will give you super affordable data plans.

Mint Mobile is an MVNO, so your signal may be deprioritized during peak usage periods.

There's a catch as to why Mint Mobile's prices are so much cheaper than the big wireless carriers, and in this case, it's because of deprioritization. Mint Mobile uses T-Mobile's network for coverage, but Mint Mobile users can be deprioritized during peak usage times. In other words, T-Mobile will favor its own customers over Mint Mobile users and give the T-Mobile folks the better signal. This is something you should only encounter in crowded areas and during peak-usage times (like the evenings).

You can find tons of cell phone plans under $60, but we've narrowed down what we think are the best four plans.

• Best value plan: Visible Wireless gives you the most value out of any plan under $60 a month. You get unlimited data on Verizon's network for $45 a month.
• Best data plan: You get the most high-speed data under $60 with the T-Mobile Essentials Plan. You can use 50GB of high-speed data before things start to slow down.
• Best budget plan: US Mobile offers one of the cheapest unlimited plan right now. You can cut your budget in half and still get unlimited data with US Mobile.
• Best family plan: Mint Mobile has such affordable data plans that you can cover an entire family for $60 or less a month.