These Cheap Plans Shocked Us (In a Good Way)

On this page:

• How I chose these cell phone plans ↓
• This plan only costs 50 cents per day (or less) ↓
• This plan has the same data priority level as Verizon premium customers ↓
• This plan gets 10x more premium data than AT&T, and it’s cheaper ↓

My favorite plans include unlimited data and at least 10GB of premium data. It’s my personal philosophy that you should never sacrifice usability to save money. While you don’t need the fastest data all the time, sometimes you just can’t be cosplaying a hacker and guessing someone’s Wi-Fi password. You need a reliable internet connection when you’re out and about and these plans will keep you connected — even after you’ve run out of premium, high-speed data.

I don’t trust coverage maps or coverage awards. Coverage varies drastically by location. The rule of thumb is that you have less coverage in rural areas, and more coverage in populated cities. While the Big Three carriers might win coverage and speed awards in your town, your lived experience is the strongest indicator of what works and what doesn’t.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it easier to make a decision on what cell phone plan has the best coverage. I would recommend turning to your local Reddit and asking the r/[insert city] for their recommendations, or asking people who you know and frequent similar locations to you. If your current plan gets good coverage, then an MVNO that uses the same network as your carrier would probably work fairly well.

I check regular monthly prices as a (sort-of) objective way to review the plans. I do this because promo rates aren’t consistent, and all good things come to an end. There may be some local fees and taxes that I won’t be able to factor in, and prices change frequently, so this is a snapshot of what the prices look like today.

Ever heard of Tello? Me, neither. Tello surprised me because unlike most MVNOs which offer you a few plans to choose from, Tello customers can pick and choose the amount of data they want on a plan and the number of minutes. You can go as low as zero gigs of data and 300 minutes of calls, or unlimited everything for $25 max. My favorite plan, costs just 50 cents per day:

Best Tello plan: 10 GB, Unlimited talk & text

Network: T-Mobile

What you get:

• Unlimited data with 10GB premium data
• 10GB of mobile hotspot
• Free calls to 60+ countries
• Typical download speeds:
  • 79–357 Mbps (5G)
  • 13–61 Mbps (4G)

Other affordable dupes for T-Mobile:

• Mint Mobile: Well-known for its $15/mo. for a 3-month introductory deal.
• US Mobile: US Mobile offers lots of high-speed data and the option to jump from network to network.
• Red Pocket: Also a multi-network carrier. Budget plans with international calling.

Once upon a time, Verizon launched Visible, its budget cell phone service. In its early days, Visible offered plans for a fraction of the cost of a Verizon plan, albeit with slow data speeds.   Now, Visible still has the cheap prices, but if you get a Visible+ plan, your data is at the same priority level (QCI 8) as a Verizon premium customer.

Best Visible plan: Visible+ Plan

Network: Verizon

What you get:

• Unlimited premium data on Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network
• Unlimited premium data on Verizon’s 5G & 4G LTE networks
• Up to 1080p HD quality video
• Spam call protection
• Unlimited hotspot data
• Unlimited talk & text to Mexico & Canada
• Unlimited talk, text, and data while roaming in Mexico & Canada
• One Global Pass day per month included
• $15/mo off Fios Internet
• Typical download speeds:
  • 163–622Mbps (5G Ultra Wideband)
  • 35–148Mbps (5G/4G LTE)

Other Verizon MVNOs:

• Spectrum Mobile: for Spectrum Internet customers. It’s included for a year, so why not?
• Twigby: Also offers 3-month discounted introductory rates.

On a cellular network, subscribers are given Quality of Service Class Identifiers (QCI). This equates to the priority level of your data on a network. The lower your QCI, the higher your priority. And the higher your priority, the more likely you are to experience fast speeds when using the internet on your phone.

According to Broadband Map:

• T-Mobile premium plan customers are on QCI 6 or 7, with MVNO customers on QCI 7 or above.
• Verizon premium plan customers and MVNO customers are both on QCI 8 or 9.
• AT&T are on QCI 7 or 8. While MVNO customers are on QCI 8 or above.

When on a higher QCI level, and thus a lower priority, you may notice that your speeds slow down during times of congestion. For example, a Verizon customer may get faster speeds while a customer on Visible’s base plan may notice slower speeds, in the same place at the same time. However, those on the more expensive Visible+ plan get the same priority as premium Verizon customers.

AT&T’s cheapest plan, Value 2.0, costs $50 and gets a measly 5GB of high-speed data. PureTalk, a virtually unknown cell phone carrier, gets 10 times more premium data, and you save $15 too.

Best PureTalk plan: Unlimited34.99 Plan

Network: AT&T

What you get:

• Unlimited data with 50GB premium data
• 2GB of mobile hotspot
• Spam call protection
• 30-day money back guarantee
• 20% discount for Military and First Responders
• Free or discounted smartphones to choose from
• Typical download speeds:
  • 152–472Mbps (5G+)
  • 57–337Mbps (5G)
  • 13–79Mbps (4G LTE)

Other notable AT&T MVNOs:

• Cricket Wireless: Slightly pricier than your average MVNO, but still cheaper than AT&T.
• Straight Talk: Also on the pricier end for MVNOs, but offers sweet features like cloud storage, Walmart+, and roaming.