Which phone carrier is the best

T-Mobile Connect 2. That's an increase over the old amount of 2GB. Need more than that? Upgrade to the 5. There's a big limitation to T-Mobile Connect plan, as you might imagine. Once you use up your allotment, you're out of data for the rest of the billing cycle. Many rival plans simply slow your speeds when you hit your monthly limit.

At least your data pool gets larger over time. Pros: Low costs, Mb data boosts annually Cons: Out of data once you hit your cap. Along with the pricing and data benefits, Verizon is also the carrier with both the best speeds and coverage.

Pros: Lots of data under current promotion, great coverage and speeds Cons: Not the cheapest prepaid around. On the opposite end of the spectrum to the cheap plans above, unlimited cell phone plans are often going to be among the most expensive on the market.

But if you're glued to your phone to stream Netflix on the go, scroll through Facebook and power through lots of data each month, the additional cost of an unlimited plan could well be worth it. Those more expensive plans include more perks, such as free streaming service subscription, increased data for hotspots, and more. Unlimited plans often include 5G coverage, too. The per-line charge also drops the more lines you add to your plan — a good thing for families.

Just be aware that some of the free services are limited trials, such as a new perk that gives Do More customers six months of Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass. Pros: Excellent coverage, free streaming subscriptions, 5G access Cons: Not the cheapest option for unlimited data.

While this middle-tier plan cuts a few features like HD streaming you can pay extra to add it via Magenta Plus , the Magenta plan is worth it for this more attractive price. With this plan you get unlimited priority data and free Netflix when you've got two or more lines on your plan. The Magenta plan also features a free year of Apple TV, too. Pros: Attractive perks, affordable price Cons: HD video streaming costs extra. While that is a great price, you won't be surprised to hear that it does come with some catches.

Mint's speeds — both for 4G and 5G — are slowed after your first 35GB of data usage and Mint's plans can start to get pretty costly after the first three months, with large upfront costs to get the best rates. Pros: Cheapest overall unlimited plan, 5G speeds Cons: Speed restrictions, price increases after 3 months.

Sign up before Nov. That per-line rate drops as you add more lines, too. Pros: Low rate, excellent network performance Cons: Data can be slowed if network is congested. But it offers perks those plans don't led by free access to HBO Max, one of the better streaming services out there. In addition, the Unlimited Elite plan no longer has any caps on data usage, so your data speeds will never slow down. For reference, here's the average download speeds across the three major wireless networks.

With an average download speed of You should also be able to download apps without a problem. For example, if you live in Nebraska, you should really double check the coverage map. Sorry, that was a low blow, Nebraska.

If it were a foot race between Verizon and T-Mobile, you would need a photograph to tell who finished first for the best cellular service, according to users. Source: Opensignal. Verizon is only 0. Verizon covers more of the remote spaces of the country, while T-Mobile specializes in coverage in more urban areas. This is a big deal for any of you who happen to post Instagram stories, Twitter videos, or YouTube videos.

Likewise, it's a big deal for those of you who watch Instagram stories, Twitter videos, and YouTube videos. So, really, all of us. The average T-Mobile user gets an If you pick the provider with the best coverage Verizon , you have to cope with its higher-than-average price.

In other words, you pay for what you get and you get what you pay for. Whether you live in a rural area or a more urban area, coverage is a big deal. How has your experience been with these providers? Any horror stories or tales of redemption? Let us know in the comments below! And there are plenty of places where you don't want to be without a signal. The DMV is the first place that comes to mind. I need coverage because I travel for business.

Any ideas on best phone plans for multiple lines? However, the Verizon coverage map displayed above in this article is incorrect. We are shown to have 3G, 4G and 5G. I just had to share this terrible news. I am currently a Sprint customer, now TMobile, and this has got to be the absolute worst customer service experience I have had in my entire life. Please, let me transfer you.

No luck finding contacts via google to contact corporate and escalate additionally. Very sad. On the plus, the people were nice. Fresh off more wasted time. Vivint Smart Home Security Review. By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. If that's your thing, go to Visible or one of the major carriers. The cheapest, lower-tier three plans are for new Boost customers only, and the lowest two require that you bring your own device.

Like Mint Mobile, the unlimited plans are limited to 35 GB of high-speed data, after which you get reduced speeds. Make sure yours is compatible by checking here. Cricket is, eh, fine. There's nothing egregious about its offerings, but nothing about them really stands out, either. It still offers solid service, though, and some of the tiers make a good case for themselves. But at least Cricket's prices do include taxes. Yet even if you're paying that much, you're limited to streaming video at p.

Straight Talk is a collaboration between Walmart and TracPhone. It's only available at Walmart. Here's is its phone compatibility checker. Xfinity is another well-known name that we'd pass on.

It's also just not a good deal compared to our other options. Metro really pushes its unlimited tiers, which offer basically the same features at the same price as regular T-Mobile plans, except for the fact that you may be deprioritized during times of congestion. In many instances, it's smarter to skip Metro and go straight to T-Mobile.

These smaller providers called MVNOs, generally, when they're not owned by another provider that has its own network infrastructure use other networks' cellular infrastructure—almost always one or more of the big three or US Cellular.

They typically work just as well as the standard network. If the network is congested, there's a chance those big carriers will prioritize their customers first, but we already know they deprioritize their own users during congestion as well. If you had a phone that worked for one then it probably wouldn't work on the other, and so switching cell carriers might have meant having to buy a new phone.

This is the most important, so listen up. The fanciest phone on the market won't get you anywhere if you can't get data or voice service. Ask your friends, colleagues and neighbors how good their reception and signal strength are where you work and live.

Network strength is so incredibly variable, and can change by time of day, weather and even where you are inside or outside a building.

It changes, too, since carriers upgrade their networks or adjust their towers all the time. Because of that, we can't recommend a single carrier that's guaranteed to work for you, but a lot of people turn to RootMetrics , which is an independent company that routinely tests network strength across the US.

A few years ago, we joined RootMetrics for a ride-along to see exactly how data-testing worked. Need more information? Read on to get to know four categories of US carriers and how much you'll pay for each GB of data. For the pricing breakdown in the chart below, we chose plans that were close to 10GB of data; this amount is pretty easy to chew through when you consider all that data navigating and music streaming.

It assumes that you already have a smartphone, so we're not artificially inflating the final monthly bill with the full or monthly cost of a phone which varies.