7 Best Prepaid Phone Plans (2026) Leave a comment
Different Pay as you go Mobile Companies
Mint Cellular is a pay as you go service that makes use of the T-Cellular community (T-Cellular acquired the corporate in 2024). Plans begin at $15 for five GB, although they provide an Limitless tier at $30 (and typically that’s on sale for much less). Mint’s charges are low, however the firm’s plans have fairly just a few restrictions on service and knowledge, and Mint doesn’t provide smartwatch plans in any respect. Worldwide calling and knowledge are costly, too.
Cricket Wi-fi is a pay as you go service owned by AT&T. It provides limitless plans beginning at $35 a month, although the entry-level plan doesn’t embody hot-spot knowledge (it’s bought as an additional). Line reductions are first rate as much as 5 strains, so Cricket will be good for household plans. Cricket Wi-fi has many shops within the US, which is uncommon for a pay as you go cellphone service supplier, and makes Cricket a stable decide in the event you favor to talk with a buyer consultant face-to-face.
Metro is owned by T-Cellular. The corporate’s Limitless 5G plans, obtainable at $25 monthly or $20 monthly (when billed on a six-month cycle), are stable, as Metro gives 35 GB of high-speed knowledge together with limitless speak and textual content. Nevertheless, these plans lack hot-spot help, and even essentially the most fundamental worldwide help is an add-on service. Metro has a five-year value lock promise, however Enhance by T-Cellular has a “ceaselessly” value promise. Like different T-Cellular manufacturers, Metro has many retail areas, which may be good in order for you face-to-face service.
Straight Discuss is owned by Verizon and is usually marketed in Walmart areas. It has limitless speak, textual content, and knowledge plans beginning at $45 monthly. These plans have 10 GB of hot-spot knowledge and limitless worldwide calling to Mexico and Canada. Nevertheless, US Cellular and Verizon-owned Seen provide plans with higher worth and extra options, like bundled smartwatch help, on the similar value.
TracFone is a Verizon-owned pay as you go mobile service. Like Shopper Mobile, its advertising and marketing focuses closely on older customers. And very similar to Shopper Mobile, the plans aren’t the very best worth. On a extra constructive notice, many TracFone plans embody rollover knowledge, which is uncommon. This might be enticing in the event you principally don’t require a lot knowledge, however sometimes use way more than common.
Ting Cellular is a pay as you go mobile service that makes use of the Verizon community. It used to make use of T-Cellular, and it’s owned by Enhance. Ting provides Limitless plans, although lots of the Limitless plans have slightly low high-speed knowledge limits. Scorching-spot knowledge is included in all plans, however Worldwide will not be included, so that you’ll be charged further for that. Smartwatches aren’t supported. I personally used this as my main service 5 years in the past, however switched as its plans grew to become much less aggressive.
Shopper Mobile is a model that markets itself in the direction of older people with the promise of straightforward, cheap service. Nevertheless, the corporate’s plans are typically costlier than opponents’, beginning at $20 monthly for simply 1 GB of information. The corporate has ranked extremely in Shopper Studies person surveys, a minimum of. Shopper Mobile has retail areas and opened its fiftieth retailer in July 2025.
MobileX is a pay as you go service on the Verizon community that has a spread of pay-as-you-go and limitless plans. The limitless plans don’t strike me as compelling, given their limits on knowledge and worldwide use.
RedPocket Cellular is a pay as you go cellular service with entry to Verizon, AT&T, and T-Cellular (customers select the community at sign-up). It has a easy plan system with simply three tiers, from 3 GB to 50 GB of premium knowledge. Solely the premium tier has a scorching spot. All plans embody some extent of Worldwide protection in 80-ish international locations, with 100 minutes/100 texts and an honest chunk of information (1 GB to 10 GB), in order that they’re an honest decide for individuals who journey internationally however don’t use sufficient knowledge to justify the costlier Google Fi Limitless Premium plan. I used to be additionally pissed off by RedPocket Cellular’s app, which proved buggy and sometimes threw errors claiming that my private info was incorrect, however didn’t say what particularly was fallacious.
Whole Wi-fi can also be owned by Verizon and provides limitless plans beginning at $40 monthly. They’re cheap plans, however as soon as once more, the alternate options from US Cellular and Verizon’s personal Seen are extra compelling general.
UScellular was, till lately, the oldest impartial MVNO within the US, but it surely was acquired by T-Cellular in 2024, and T-Cellular plans to combine the corporate into T-Cellular. So, when you can nonetheless technically buy a plan from the corporate, it makes extra sense to go to T-Cellular.
