Surely you’ve seen commercials for cell phone carriers with lots of fanfare hype for a plan that costs “only” $40-$50 per month. Sometimes it’s for a single line, but more often than not it’s when dealing with multiple lines. That’s hardly a bargain.
While it might be tempting to sign up with one of the big four carriers, there’s a whole range of other providers that might work just as well for you — and save you hundreds per year.
These Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) often cost much less per month but still provide the features consumers need. You might not get a ton of extra options like hotspots, free music streaming, or a ton of data, but that’s okay.
Rate Plans
- Cheap cell phone plans that use the Verizon network
- Cheap cell phone plans that use the AT&T network
- Cheap cell phone plans that use the T-Mobile network
- Cheap cell phone plans that use the Sprint network
If you spend a lot of time on Wi-Fi, or don’t travel all that much, we definitely suggest looking into the various MVNO brands.
$20 or Less
Here, we spotlight a collection of phone plans that you can get for just $20 per month, or less.
Nearly all of them are standard rates and don’t require any long-term commitment. Only a few are introductory offers or require automatic bill payment; we’ll call them out where applicable.
Good2Go Mobile – $20
- Unlimited talk, text
- 3GB 4G LTE data
- Includes $5 Auto Pay credit
- Uses AT&T network
H2O Wireless – $20
- Unlimited talk, text
- 1GB 4G LTE data
- International talk to 50+ countries
- International text
- Uses AT&T network
Mint Mobile – $15*
- Unlimited talk, text
- 3GB 4G LTE data
- Free calls to Mexico & Canada
- Data can be used for mobile hotspot
- *Introductory rate – goes up to $25 after three months
- Uses T-Mobile network
Net10 Wireless – $20
- Unlimited talk, text
- 1GB 4G LTE data
- Uses Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint networks
Republic Wireless – $20
- Unlimited talk, text
- 1GB 4G LTE data
- Uses T-Mobile and Sprint networks
Simple Mobile – $20*
- Unlimited talk, text
- 3GB 4G LTE data
- *Introductory rate with Auto Reup – goes up to $25 after three months
- International talk to 69 countries
- International roaming to 17 Latin American countries
- Uses T-Mobile network
Tello – $19
- Unlimited talk, text
- 3GB 4G LTE data
- Calls to US, Canada, Mexico, China
- Data can be used for mobile hotspot
- Uses Sprint network
Ting – $20
- Up to 500 minutes talk
- Up to 1,000 text messages
- Uses T-Mobile and Sprint networks
Tracfone – $20
- Unlimited talk, text
- 1GB 4G LTE data
- Unlimited carryover data
- Uses Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile networks
Twigby – $14.25
- Unlimited talk, text
- Unlimited international texting
- 1GB 4G LTE data
- Unlimited international calling
- Data can be used for mobile hotspot
- *Introductory rate – goes up to $19 after six months
- Uses Sprint and Verizon networks
Ultra Wireless – $14
- Unlimited talk, text
- 1GB 4G LTE data
- Unlimited calling to 80+ countries
- Data can be used for mobile hotspot
- Uses T-Mobile network
US Mobile – $20
- Up to 1,000 minutes talk
- Unlimited text
- 1GB 4G LTE data
- Uses T-Mobile networks