How much is a single cell phone plan

Picking your own phone plan for the first time? Good news: creating a plan is simple, and you can do it online, on your couch and on your own time. Follow this guide to set up the best phone plan for your needs.  

First, check out Verizon’s mobile plan options.

Verizon has 2 general plan categories: Prepaid plans or Postpaid Unlimited Plans. Each has different tiers with different costs and options. For a more detailed look at Verizon’s phone plan options, check out our plans page. 

Explore Verizon Unlimited Plans, including our new Welcome Unlimited plan. Available at just $30 per line per month for four lines with Auto Pay, plus taxes and fees, saving money no longer means having to sacrifice quality with Welcome Unlimited.

With prepaid you can pay in advance for monthly voice, text and data services. There’s also no credit check, deposit or long-term contract required. Only pay for what you need. There are several Prepaid plans to choose from so you can get the one that best fits your needs. 

Explore Verizon Prepaid Plans.

Choose a phone.

Once you’ve figured which plan is right for you, you’ll sign up — and then pick a phone. Click here and follow the prompts to select the Verizon plan you want. From there, you can review the plan you’ve chosen and you’ll be given the option to add a phone. 

You have 2 options here: 

1. Purchase a new device. There are a couple ways to purchase a new device if you have postpaid service. You can either pay full retail for the device, or, you can purchase it with device financing, subject to credit approval.  Verizon offers a customer the ability to purchase a device and pay the purchase price in installments over time, currently 36 months. There are no interest charges or other finance charges if you choose Verizon device financing and you can pay it in full at any time without penalty.  Device financing requires a credit check and a separate contract.  If you are approved for a device payment agreement, the amount financed will be billed monthly on your wireless bill over 36 months. Regardless of how you purchase your device, you are responsible for the sales tax associated with the purchase. Typically the sales tax is calculated and collected from the customer at the time of purchase but in certain states it might be billed monthly with your monthly device installment amount. You may also get some value out of your existing phone if you decide to trade it in. (When asked if you want to trade, select “yes” to begin the appraisal process.) If you’re just getting a new phone and not trading one in, scroll through the options and watch for details to pop up on the upfront and monthly charges. From here, you will be billed a one time activation fee on your first month's bill, as well as the first month's worth of service along with any required fees and taxes.

2. Use a phone you already own (with Verizon BYOD you can do this even if you’re coming from a different carrier, if the device is compatible with the Verizon network). Either way, you can transfer your existing number to use with your Verizon service. If you plan to keep your current phone, click “Bring your own” at the top of the page to set it up.From here, you will be billed a one time activation fee on your first month's bill, as well as the first month's worth of service along with any required fees and taxes.

Access your account.

Owning your very own account means you’re in charge of how everything is set up. That includes ways to access your account information, including on the My Verizon app: 

My Verizon app: sign in to your account dashboard to access your statement, pay your bill, add members, change your plan (at no charge) and more.

Get familiar with your new plan.

Managing a Verizon plan is a lot like signing up for one — simple and straightforward. To get acquainted with your new responsibilities and capabilities, check out the My Verizon app or visit My Verizon online and take a self-guided tour. We’re always here to chat, too.

We review the best cell phone plans on the market, with a pick for best performance, value, coverage, family plan deal, and cheap pricing.

Best Bundle

Unlimited plan

4

Price:

$45/mo.

$45 Unlimited Plan

4.5

Price:

$45/mo.

Unlimited Basic family plan

4

Price:

$80/mo.

Unlimited Data plan

4

Price:

$30/mo.

Magenta MAX plan

4

Price:

$85/mo.

By Tyler Abbott

Staff Writer, Mobile & Wireless

December 06, 2022

16 min read

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Here's the low-down for the best cell phone plans:

• Verizon offers the best network, and Visible gives you access to Verizon's network for a fraction of the price.
• Xfinity Mobile gives you surprisingly good discounts if you bundle your cell phone plan and TV together.
• US Mobile is one of the few smaller carriers that offers family plan discounts, allowing you to get down to $20/mo. for unlimited talk, text, and data.
• Mint Mobile offers one of the cheapest unlimited plans on the market today.
• When it comes to data speeds, T-Mobile reigns supreme.

See? That wasn't so hard. Now you have everything you need to find the best cell phone plan, right? Nope! There's definitely more details to know before committing to any cell phone plan, and we've narrowed down everything you need to know.

Best cell phone plans and providers

• Visible's $45 Unlimited Plan

  : Best coverage

• Xfinity Mobile's $45 Unlimited Plan

  : Best bundle

• Mint Mobile

  : Best budget unlimited data plan

• US Mobile

  : Best family plan

• T-Mobile’s Magenta MAX

  : Best overall performance

• US Mobile

  : Best plan under $20

The best cell phone deals right now

If you're looking for a new cell phone plan, maybe you should get a new phone to go with it! So don't forget to look at our monthly roundup of the best cell phone deals.

For example, right now Mint Mobile is offering an exclusive buy-three-get-three deal that gets you three months of cell service for free.

What to look for in a cell phone plan

Entering into a cell phone plan is a lot like entering into a relationship. The more you know before committing, the better. Here's some quick tips of what to look for in a cell phone plan.

• Know how much data you need: It's essential to know how much data you need as many carriers will base their plans on this figure. Not everyone needs an unlimited data plan, so don't overpay for what you don't need. Read our handy guide to see how much high-speed data you actually need.
• Compare prices: With so many options available, we want to make sure you get the best price for your needs. Use the price-comparison tools, like the charts in this review, to make sure you’re getting the best deal available.
• Watch out for extra fees: Not all cell phone plans are straightforward. Many, especially the cheaper plans, have plenty of devils in the details (like data slowdowns and price increases). We've highlighted some of those details to help you out in your search.
• Make sure your area is covered: Not all mobile providers have stellar service in every part of the US. So to avoid having to sit by the window and wait for bars to appear, check out our coverage maps in this review or read our cell phone coverage guide to see which cell phone service gives you the best coverage.

All right, let’s talk plans, beginning with the most powerful.

Compare top cell phone plans by provider

Provider

Best for

Our plan pick

Plan price (1 line)

Details

Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability vary by location and are subject to change.

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This superior coverage won’t matter as much to those who live in major metropolitan areas, where every carrier has good coverage. But those who are outside of major areas will almost certainly want to check out Verizon (there are some places where Verizon is really the only game in town). Likewise, folks who travel around the country often will get the best experience with Verizon. 

Take a look at this coverage map to see just how extensive Verizon's network is.

Visible/Verizon coverage map

Unlimited Hotspot data

Both Visible cell phone plans come with unlimited talk, text, and data, but the higher-tier $45 Plan also comes with unlimited hotspot data. It's rare getting hotspot data with a smaller carrier like Visible, let alone unlimited hotspot data.

The catch is that your hotspot data caps at 5 Mbps with Visible. That's enough speed to connect your laptop to the internet and send Slack messages back and forth, but you'll probably have a rough time streaming a Zoom meeting.

What we don’t like

Every small wireless carrier has the same downside: deprioritization and data throttling.

Data throttling

It wouldn't make sense if Visible could charge half of what Verizon charges without any downsides at all, right? In this case, the downside is that your data speeds could slow down if Verizon's network becomes overly congested.

As a Visible user, you might find that you can't refresh your Instagram feed at a crowded stadium, or can't stream a podcast during rush hour traffic. When the network gets congested, Verizon will give priority to its own customers. Your mileage may vary on how often you experience this, but know that it's something that can pop up at the most annoying times.

On the plus side, Verizon owns Visible, so its possible that Visible customers will experience less data throttling compared to other smaller carriers on Verizon's network (like US Mobile).

Alternative pick: Spectrum Mobile

If you already use Spectrum as your internet provider, you can get an affordable cell phone plan with them as well. If you’re not a Spectrum internet user, feel free to scroll on out of here.

Spectrum Mobile’s unlimited plan gets you unlimited everything for $55/month, and uses Verizon’s awesome network to provide coverage. You only get a 30GB data cap every month with this unlimited plan, meaning if you use over 30GB in a month, your data speeds will slow down. As long as you keep below that data cap, Spectrum Mobile offers a nice value unlimited plan for Spectrum customers.

Spectrum Mobile Unlimited Plus

Xfinity Mobile's $45 Unlimited Plan: Best bundle

Comcast Xfinity home internet customers can cut cell bills by switching to Xfinity Mobile

But 4G is going the way of dial-up internet and VHS tapes (remember those?). 5G is the new technology in town, and T-Mobile is also dominating in the 5G arena.

When it comes to 5G speeds, OpenSignal’s latest report says, “T-Mobile wins the 5G Download Speed award for the fifth time in a row, increasing once again its lead on Verizon and AT&T … this time T-Mobile places at least 93.9 Mbps ahead of its competitors …”3

Unlimited data

Here’s a dirty little secret about the mobile industry: unlimited doesn’t really mean unlimited most of the time. Most unlimited plans actually have a data cap, and once you hit that cap your data speeds can (and will) be drastically reduced.

This is one of the biggest reasons that T-Mobile’s Magenta MAX plan stands out. The Magenta MAX plan gives you 100 GB a month of high-speed data before deprioritization. If you want the best speed, here it is.

Largest 5G network

T-Mobile doesn’t just have the fastest 5G data speeds. It also has the largest 5G network. According to OpenSignal, T-Mobile users in 16 states were connected to 5G networks 35% of the time.

That might not sound like much, but it’s far more than AT&T customers, who were only connected to a 5G network 25% of the time (in just six states) and Verizon users, who were connected just 17% of the time (in just one state).1

This network makes T-Mobile the most “future-proof” carrier around, since 5G technology will become the new standard for mobile networks in the years to come.

What we don’t like

Obviously, we’re pretty impressed with T-Mobile right now. But that doesn’t mean we are blind to its faults. Here are the things we don’t love about the Magenta MAX plan.

It’s expensive

T-Mobile is actually the cheapest of the Big Three. Its prices are generally cheaper than comparable plans from AT&T and Verizon. But that doesn’t matter much when you’re talking about an $85 plan like Magenta MAX.

You can get an unlimited plan from a discount carrier, like Visible or Mint, for less than half that price (although the data will be much slower and you’ll have worse perks)!

In short, T-Mobile knows this is the most powerful plan in the industry right now, so they’re not afraid to stick to a high price. And it’s still totally worth it for those who want performance above all else.

Is $85 just too pricey?

Written by

Tyler Abbott

Tyler has been obsessed with watching sports as efficiently as possible since the creation of the DVR. He is always on the lookout for the best tech in TV and wireless so he can watch all the sports and still have enough time to hang out with his baby. He has written about streaming, wireless, and TV for over three years. He hopes the Lakers will eventually get better.

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