5 Best Mobile Carriers for Your New Smartphone
Picking a new smartphone to entrust your daily life is hard enough with options between flagship smartphones, but your next chore would be finding the best mobile carrier for it. There are a lot of considerations you have to think of when choosing your plan.
What features do they cover? How much data can I get? And most importantly, how much can I afford? While most people would usually move to buy a plan from one of the three extensive networks, T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T, that does not mean they are the perfect option for you.
Others also have good services like Simple Mobile plans. If you are looking for nothing but the best, though, here’s our list of the five best mobile carriers for your smartphone!
What to Look for in a Mobile Carrier
Before we start, let us first explain the three basic things to look for in an excellent mobile carrier. These three are signal coverage, pricing, and plan features.
Coverage
When comparing the best mobile carriers, the first thing to look into is their signal coverage. Most mobile carriers have a map on their website that showcases a map showing where and how their mobile network is linked. Some have a nationwide map showing their exact coverage, while others use postal codes to determine whether your area is covered.
If you are the type to move around a lot, make sure that your mobile carrier covers the locations where you travel.
Looking into a services’ coverage is not just to see where you can get a signal from their network, but to see what kind of band their network operates on. The US has two wireless network bands, CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and GSM (Global System for Mobiles); both are incompatible.
Thankfully enough, most new phones are dual-band and work with both networks. Do take care to check whether your phone is compatible with your chosen network, though.
Pricing
The second point of comparison between mobile carriers and their plans is, of course, their pricing.
When getting a phone plan with your mobile carrier, it is best to choose one that covers your needs with a bit of leeway for a price you can afford. No matter how good the offer’s features are, it won’t make much of a difference if you can’t afford it. If you’re looking for bargains, try to spot introductory promotions and specials when they come out.
You could also get annual paid plans instead of monthly post-paid plans as carriers often give slight discounts instead of the monthly ones.
Features
The last thing to look for in the best mobile carrier is their plans’ features. These refer to what you can do with your phone plans like unlimited texting, unlimited calling, and the amount of mobile data you can use per month. Other features that mobile carriers provide could include 5G connectivity, data roaming, and international texting.
Best Mobile Carriers for Your New Smartphone
This list of the best mobile carriers will cover the best available market right now. We will protect their call and text, data, and other feature plans, including their pricing range, coverage, and other notable features of each program.
1. T-Mobile
After merging with Sprint, T-Mobile is now the most prominent cellular network provider in the US. Covering both 5G and 4G networks, you can now use their service in all fifty states, Puerto Rico, and parts of Canada and Mexico.
T-Mobile has three main plans, a $60 “Essentials” plan, a $70 Magenta plan, and an $85 Magenta Max plan. They all start with unlimited talk and text (including to Canada and Mexico), SD streaming, and 5G connectivity. On the other hand, the Magenta plan adds 100GB of premium 5G data speeds (before defaulting to 3G speeds) and a free Netflix Basic account (for 2+ plans). Meanwhile, the Magenta Max plan adds truly unlimited 5G premium data (40GB at high-speed then defaults to 3G speeds), up to 4K UHD streaming, and a free Netflix Standard account (for 2+ plans).
2. Verizon
Another of the best mobile carriers in the US is Verizon, with a comparable 5G network to T-Mobile. Compared to T-Mobile, Verizon has its special “5G Ultra-Wideband” that offers up to 10x faster speeds than 4G LTE.
Starting at $80, Verizon has four main smartphone plans available. These are its $80 5G Start plan, the $90 5G Play More plan, the $90 5G Do More plan, and the $100 5G Get More plan. All plans offer unlimited calling and texting (including Canada and Mexico), 4G LTE speeds, at least six months of free Apple Music access, and international texting.
The Start plan starts with just the basic 5G network and cannot access Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband or offer mobile hotspot data. Both $90 plans, meanwhile, have 5G Ultra Wideband access, 50GB of premium data access, and 25GB of premium mobile hotspot data. Play More plans offer several free entertainment options like Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, while the Do More plan provides 600GB of Verizon Cloud storage and 1 TravelPass day per month. Meanwhile, the Get More plan has all the previously offered features, unlimited premium 5G access, and 50GB of premium mobile hotspot data.
3. AT&T
The third of the best mobile carriers, AT&T also offers excellent 5G coverage for users in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
AT&T also offers three primary plans like T-Mobile, and these plans are the $65 Starter Plan, the $75 Extra Plan, and the $85 Elite Plan. All the plans start with unlimited calling, texting, and data (in the US, Mexico, and Canada), unlimited texting to 200+ countries, access to the 5G network, SD streaming, and six months of Stadia Pro.
The $75 plan offers additional features like 15GB of hotspot data per month and 50GB of premium 5G data per month. Meanwhile, the Elite Plan has other features like 4K UHD video streaming, unlimited prioritized 5G data, 40GB of hotspot data per month, and a free HBO Max account.
4. US Cellular
One of the multi-regional mobile carriers, US Cellular also has a good network with a sizable 5G network for most big cities. Still, it has 4G LTE coverage comparable to the other three carriers.
Another three-tiered subscription scheme, US Cellular, has a $60 Basic, $70 every day 2.0, and $75 Even Better 2.0 plans. The Basic plan offers unlimited call and text, SD video streaming, and unlimited data. The everyday 2.0 plan adds HD video streaming, unlimited LTE data in Mexico and Canada, 15GB of mobile hotspot access, 25GB of priority 5G data, and one free Redbox Movie Night. Meanwhile, the Even Better 2.0 plan includes additional features like 30GB of mobile hotspot access, 50GB of priority 5G data, and two free Redbox Movie Nights.
5. Google Fi
Another mobile carrier with a good 5G coverage is Google Fi; while still somewhat limited in some far-flung parts like Alaska, what they have is more than enough for most people.
Compared to the other mobile carriers on this list, Google Fi’s has split its mobile plans into two groups, a post-paid one with a “pay as you go” data scheme and two unlimited post-paid data plans. The first plan is “Flexible,” which starts at just $20 but charges $10 per GB of data used and allows a maximum cap of data available. While quite limited, it will enable international data traveling outside the US, Canada, and Mexico, international calls and text, and free calls from the US to Canada and Mexico.
Meanwhile, the $60 Simply Unlimited Plan is an unlimited data scheme with 22GB of prioritized data but does not have the international data, call, or texting the Flexible plan has. The best option Google Fi offers is the $70 Unlimited Plus model with all the features the Simply Unlimited and Flexible plans have with an additional 100GB of Google Cloud storage space and free calls to over 50 destinations.
Aim For A Balance
The trick to getting the best mobile carrier for you is to find a feasible balance between what you are getting and what you are paying. The five networks we presented aren’t the only ones in the market, and there are a lot of other regional MVNOs that offer similar or better services than the ones we’ve listed down here.
