How to save on mobile plans: Your guide to 17 no-contract carriers
For you, this is very good news: It means more options, fewer limitations and, best of all, lower prices. Whereas once you had no choice but to buy a subsidized phone from a major carrier, then pay a hefty fee every month for two full years, now you can choose from a variety of inexpensive handsets, get service from a smaller carrier -- a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO -- and enjoy contract-free service at significantly lower rates.
Here we look at 17 of those MVNOs, all of them offering voice, messaging and data for your smartphone without the heavy yoke of the two-year contract.
Most of them do this by leasing Big Four bandwidth and tweaking the typical monthly-plan formulas. Ting, for example, charges you based on your consumption, while Republic Wireless will refund you for unused data. Some carriers leverage tech like Wi-Fi and voice-over-IP to offer lower rates. And most let you bring over an existing phone, which is great if you're looking to extend the life of a handset that's already bought and paid for.
(Even Google is getting in the act with its Project Fi service. However, it is still available only by invitation, so we're not including it for now. See: What the heck is Project Fi)
Suppose you have an iPhone 5S that just reached the end of a two-year contract with AT&T. It's a common misconception that you need to stay with the same carrier and pay the same monthly rate. The concept of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is now the order of the day -- all carriers are now required to unlock their devices upon request, so you can take your post-contract phone to any compatible carrier. In other words, you can shop around.
What's a "compatible" carrier AT&T and T-Mobile operate GSM networks, while Sprint and Verizon rely on CDMA. Some higher-end phones support both technologies, so if you started with, say, Verizon, you might have the option of ending up with, say, AT&T (or, for our purposes, an AT&T MVNO). But in many cases you'll need to keep within the same GSM or CDMA "umbrella," meaning your choice of carrier must match up with the capabilities of your phone. (For that reason, we've specified in our list of carriers the network each is using.)
The beauty of the unlocked, contract-free phone is that you get to choose a carrier with the price and plan that suits you best. And if you find a better deal down the road or you're not happy with the service, it's a simple matter to switch.
Sounds great, right Here come a few caveats. For starters, MVNOs don't always deliver the same features and coverage as their Big Four brothers, despite operating on the very same networks. Virgin Mobile, for example, lacks the nationwide roaming coverage afforded by Sprint, meaning voice calls from the boonies might cost you extra. And Cricket Wireless charges Android users extra for its mobile-hotspot option -- and doesn't offer it at all for iPhone owners.
Then there's data. All the "starting at" prices listed in the carrier descriptions that follow include at least some data in their plans. However, as is the norm these days, virtually all the carriers will cap your throughput at a certain point, giving you X-amount of 4G speed and then dropping you back to a slower rate of throughput (usually something akin to 2.5G, but this isn't always specified). In other cases, your plan might include only, say, 500MB of data, after which you'd have to pay per-megabyte overage charges.
How much data do you really need That can be hard to judge. Back in 2013, a Nielsen study pegged average U.S. smartphone use at just 733MB per month. By the end of 2014, that number had skyrocketed to 2GB. And in the first quarter of 2015, it was up to 2.5GB, according to industry analyst Chetan Sharma. If you've never tracked how much data you consume in a month, or you know it varies a lot, you might want to consider a carrier that offers pay-as-you-go billing, rollover data or a refund for unused data.
Make sure, too, to read all the fine print. Does your MVNO include things like picture messaging RingPlus, for example, charges extra for each MMS you send. And what about porting your number There might be a fee. A few carriers, including TextNow, have problems handling short-code text messages, which are used to deliver everything from Amber Alerts to airline boarding passes to Starbucks deals. Figure out what's important to you and what you can do without.
Don't want to make sacrifices You may not have to: In the past year all four Big Four carriers have made significant changes to their offerings, especially when it comes to pricing and family plans. For example, as of press time, Sprint and T-Mobile each offer four-line plans for $120 per month, or $30 per person. (See: Good News from the Big Four's Price War.)
One thing is certain: With so many competitors in the phone-carrier biz (including a number of smaller and/or regional companies we didn't cover), you have options for just about every budget and preference. The 17 MVNOs below represent a great cross-section of both new and established carriers; we chose them as representative of the industry as a whole.
Piggybacks on: Sprint Starts at: $30 per month (with auto-pay) for unlimited voice minutes/texts, 2GB data BYOD: Yes In business since: 2000
Boost is one of the oldest and largest no-contract carriers, a Sprint-owned service that offers "growing" data plans: You start out paying as little as $35 per month (or $30 with auto-pay) for 2GB, and get an extra 500MB after three on-time monthly payments (capped at an extra 3GB). Or you can just opt for $60 per month for unlimited data.
Boost sells a wide variety of phones, from low-end Android handsets to the iPhone 6S Plus. In the past, you had limited options for bringing your own device, but the carrier now supports a sizable list of Sprint phones. There's also a referral program, some added perks for deployed members of the military and unlimited music streaming (meaning it doesn't count against your data allotment) from services like iHeartRadio, Pandora and Slacker Radio.
Piggybacks on: AT&T Starts at: $12.50 per month for 0 voice minutes, 300 texts, 30MB data BYOD: Yes In business since: 1995
Popular with the AARP crowd, Consumer Cellular takes a decidedly senior-friendly approach to phones and service plans. Phone choices are limited (but include desirable models like the iPhone 6S and Motorola Moto G), and plan options are available to suit nearly any budget. The company also offers free SIM cards (in all sizes) for use with any AT&T-compatible unlocked phone.
Consumer Cellular's voice plans start at $10 monthly (which includes only pay-as-you-go voice minutes), while data options start at just $2.50 (for 300 texts and 30MB of data). In the interest of keeping things simple for seniors, there's no mention of techie specs like data speeds -- though a rep confirmed that 4G-capable phones will get 4G service.
Consequently, this could be an attractive option for users who spend most of their time connected to Wi-Fi or who simply don't make a lot of calls.
Piggybacks on: AT&T Starts at: $35 per month (with auto-pay) for unlimited voice minutes/texts, 2.5GB data BYOD: Yes In business since: 1999
Following its merger with Aio Wireless back in 2014, Cricket Wireless quickly established itself as a major MVNO player. The carrier offers competitive pricing for individuals, with $5 per month discounts when you set up auto-pay, and an even better deal for groups: five lines for $100 monthly. That's for the Basic plan, which includes 2.5GB of LTE data per line. If you bump up to the Smart plan, either individually or as a group, Cricket throws in unlimited international texting; unlimited talk and texting to and from the U.S., Canada and Mexico; and no-extra-charge data in Canada and Mexico. However, a mobile hotspot adds $10 per month, and for the moment the feature is limited to about a dozen phone models.
Piggybacks on: Sprint Starts at: $0 per month for 200 voice minutes, 500 texts, 500MB data BYOD: Yes In business since: 2011
FreedomPop's claim to fame: free service. Whether you bring your own phone or buy a refurbished iPhone 5S or Motorola Moto E ($279.99 and $149.99, respectively), you'll get a monthly stipend of sorts: 200 voice minutes, 500 text messages and 500MB of data. If you hit those caps, extra data runs 2.5 cents per megabyte and a penny per voice minute or text message -- competitive rates all around. There are also monthly and annual plans for users who want unlimited calling and messaging and more data.
But FreedomPop has an almost user-hostile website: It provides no information about phones, plans or coverage unless you first enter a ZIP code and email address, and even then, it's extremely difficult to browse the available options. In addition, its phone service relies heavily on voice-over-IP rather than cell towers, often with mixed voice-quality results. Assuming you bring your own device, however, you have little to lose (save for a $10 number-porting fee) by at least trying the service. And if you're a fairly light consumer of voice minutes and data, this could prove an unbeatable deal.
Piggybacks on: T-Mobile Starts at: $20 per month for unlimited voice minutes/texts, 250MB data BYOD: Yes In business since: 2013
Hate the idea of paying a small fortune every month to a greedy, faceless corporation You might feel a little better knowing some of that money is going to a good cause. Giv Mobile donates 8% of your plan payment to one of your choice of charities, including the American Red Cross, Alzheimer's Association and United Way.
Giv carries a modest selection of new and refurbished phones, including the iPhone 5C and Motorola Moto X, but for $5 you can buy a mini/micro SIM for use with any unlocked GSM phone. From there you choose a plan; most users will need at least the The 30, which for $30 includes unlimited everything (but a 1GB cap on high-speed data). All plans include unlimited global texting and a small amount of international-call credit. Other carriers may give you a bit more bang for the buck, but only Giv gives back.
Piggybacks on: AT&T Starts at: $27 per month (with auto-pay) for unlimited voice minutes/texts, 500MB data BYOD: Yes In business since: 2005
Maybe the water reference in H2O Wireless' name is a nod to the oceans that separate continents, because every plan the carrier offers includes unlimited international texting and unlimited calls to landlines in over 50 countries (with calls to mobile phones in "select" countries as well).
Plans start at $30 per month (a bit less if you enroll in auto-pay), though that one has a hard cap of 500MB. The next tier gives you more data after 500MB, but only at 128Kbps. This may sound a bit stingy, but there's a silver lining: H2O is among the few MVNOs to let you carry any unused data from one month to the next (banking up to 10GB maximum).
Piggybacks on: T-Mobile Starts at: $30 per month for unlimited voice minutes/texts, 1GB data BYOD: Yes In business since: 1994
Born over two decades ago and scooped up by T-Mobile in 2014, MetroPCS matches -- and in some cases exceeds -- many of its parent company's offerings. For example, you can get an individual service plan for as low as $30 monthly. However, if you bump up to the $40 plan (still $10 less than T-Mo's cheapest option), you get a 3GB 4G data allotment and Music Unlimited: Unlimited music streaming from over 40 apps, with no impact on that 3GB.
MetroPCS also includes a mobile-hotspot option with all plans, as well as Data Maximizer, which optimizes streaming video for smartphone-size screens and saves data in the process. However, the carrier isn't so generous when it comes to family plans, offering just $5 off per line. In that respect, T-Mobile definitely has the edge.
More carriers on the next page.
Piggybacks on: Multiple Starts at: $31.50 per month (with auto-pay) for unlimited voice minutes/texts, 500MB data BYOD: Yes In business since: 1996
A subsidiary of pay-as-you-go giant TracFone Wireless, Net10 sells mostly midrange and low-end phones, with some models actually offered free when you sign up for no-contract service. But the bigger appeal is for owners of post-contract phones from the Big Four: Net10 supports both GSM and CDMA handsets, meaning it's not just AT&T and T-Mobile expats who can get in on the action, but also the Sprint and Verizon crowds. At press time, the company was offering SIM cards and activation kits (the latter for CDMA phones) for just 99 cents.
The carrier's low-end plan isn't great, but there's a $50 per month option ($45 with auto-pay) that gives you 5GB of 4G data. There's also a separate set of plans based on a point system, one that awards you $300 toward a phone upgrade after 18 months as a subscriber.
Piggybacks on: Verizon Wireless Starts at: $12 per month for 250 voice minutes, 250 texts, 10MB data BYOD: No In business since: 1993
Owners of post-contract Verizon handsets have few third-party options. Technically, Page Plus Cellular isn't one of them, even though the carrier taps Verizon's renowned CDMA network. That's good news if you want Verizon's network for less than Verizon charges, but bad news if you want to BYOD. According to the Page Plus FAQ page: "While some phones not purchased directly from Page Plus or one of its dealers may work on the Page Plus network, we do not support them and their functionality may be limited."
However, if you're in the market for a new phone anyway, Page Plus does sell a wide range of compatible models, including inexpensive, entry-level phones and higher-end models like the iPhone 6S and Motorola Nexus 6. Unfortunately, while there is a bare-bones service plan for just $12 per month, the carrier's other plans more or less match Verizon's -- meaning there's not much incentive to make a change.
Piggybacks on: Sprint Starts at: $25 per month for unlimited voice minutes/text, 1GB data BYOD: No In business since: 2011
Calls routed over cell towers cost money. Calls routed over Wi-Fi networks cost almost nothing. Republic sells smartphones that tap Wi-Fi whenever possible, switching to towers only when necessary.
Those phones -- the 2nd-generation Motorola Moto E and Moto X, and 3rd-gen Moto G -- can operate on Republic's Sprint-powered network for as little as $25 monthly, and the carrier will refund you for any unused data. According to the company, customers who choose the Small plan receive an average monthly payback of $8, while the Medium plan ($40 per month) typically nets $16 back. So there's a financial incentive to hit up Wi-Fi networks whenever possible. Just one wrinkle: Call quality over Wi-Fi isn't always stellar.
Piggybacks on: Sprint Starts at: Free for 1,000 voice minutes, 1,000 text messages, 500MB data BYOD: Yes In business since: 2015
Something about RingPlus feels almost experimental. The new Sprint-powered carrier offers no-contract plans that range from completely free to $109.99 per month. For example, the current Michelangelo plan gives you 1,000 voice minutes, 1,000 text messages and 500MB of 4G data -- all for free. You don't even have to pay an activation fee.
What's the catch When you place an outgoing call, you'll hear a snippet of music or short ad instead of the usual ringing. That's barely a catch at all; the real one is that MMS messages (text messages containing photos or video) aren't included; they'll cost you 4 cents apiece. You're also required to maintain a $10 top-up balance, but it's there only to cover any overage charges. Meanwhile, RingPlus offers added perks like Wi-Fi calls (as an alternative to roaming fees, which run 14 cents per minute) and free voicemail-to-email transcription. Too good to be true Maybe, but for now it's too good to overlook.
Piggybacks on: Multiple Starts at: $49.99 per month for unlimited voice minutes/texts, 5GB data BYOD: Yes In business since: 2014
ROK Mobile's key demographic: Anyone who would normally subscribe to Apple Music, Spotify or another music-streaming service. Because the carrier's one and only monthly plan includes a streaming service of its own, one stocked with 20 million ad-free tracks and supporting unlimited skips and offline listening. Meanwhile, your $49.99 also nets you an impressive 5GB of 4G data.
ROK will sell you a phone directly (its online store carries all the latest models), but you can also bring nearly any unlocked phone, because the carrier operates on both CDMA and GSM networks. But it's not clear until well into the sign-up process whether you have to pay extra for a SIM card, and there's no online sales or support staff available to answer such questions.
Piggybacks on: Multiple Starts at: $30 per month for 1,500 voice minutes, unlimited texts, 100MB data BYOD: Yes In business since: 2009
Like Net10, another TracFone-owned enterprise, Straight Talk sells both phones and BYOD service. Also like Net10, Straight Talk supports both CDMA and GSM handsets, leveraging AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon networks to supply coverage for different models and different areas of the country.
So, what sets the two apart Not much, except for plans: Straight Talk offers a bit more bang for the buck with its $45 rate, which includes unlimited everything (with data throttling only after you hit 5GB). What's more, you can get $5 off your monthly bill (if you choose the $45 or $60 plan) when you sign up for auto-pay, though this savings drops to $2.50 after the first three months.
Piggybacks on: Sprint Starts at: $18.99 per month for unlimited voice minutes/texts, 500MB data BYOD: Yes In business since: 2009
Like Republic Wireless, TextNow relies on specially coded phones that leverage Wi-Fi for calls -- except when Wi-Fi isn't available, at which point they revert to cell towers. That's what helps keep plan prices low, with options starting at just $18.99. However, that affords you just 500MB of data at 3G/4G; after that, data speed drops to 2G. If you want, say, 2GB at a reasonable speed, you're looking at $39.99 per month -- not exactly a bargain. Indeed, that same monthly rate buys you a similar data allotment from several other MVNOs, but without the potential headaches associated with voice-over-IP calling.
What's more, using TextNow means buying one of the company's handful of Android phones, a few of which are free when you sign up for service. (You can also get a first-generation Moto G for just $9.99.) If you bring your own Android or iOS Sprint phone, you won't get the cell-tower "fallback" if your Wi-Fi or data connection isn't good enough for a VoIP call.
Piggybacks on: Sprint Starts at: $15 per month for 100 voice minutes, 100 texts, 100MB data BYOD: Yes In business since: 2012
Originally a CDMA-only network limited to owners of post-contract Sprint phones, Ting now supports GSM handsets as well. And it continues to be the only carrier that truly charges you based on your usage, offering six different tiers each for minutes, messages, data and number of devices. An online calculator shows you exactly what you'll pay per month as you juggle your choices.
In other words, if you like to get really granular when it comes to picking a plan, Ting is your best option. The carrier's excellent online dashboard lets you monitor usage and quickly make changes to device and plan settings. As for phones, a SIM card for your existing device will cost you $9, though Ting also sells a wide range of new and refurbished phones.
Piggybacks on: T-Mobile Starts at: $19 per month for unlimited voice minutes/texts, 100MB data BYOD: Yes In business since: 2014
Along with H2O Wireless, Ultra Mobile is among the few carriers to bundle international calling and texting along with the usual menu of services. The $19 starter plan includes unlimited calling within the U.S. and to 11 countries, unlimited global texting and $1.25 of "call anywhere" credit, while the $29 plan adds 1,000 international minutes (which are good for calls to more than 70 countries).
Ultra Mobile doesn't sell phones, and its website could do a better job explaining the company's BYOD options. Basically, you pick the plan you want and then order a SIM card for your unlocked GSM phone. The card is included with your order, which covers your first month of airtime. One important fine-print detail: If you choose the $19 or $29 plan, you don't get unlimited data: Mobile data is turned off once you exceed your allotment, leaving you no option but to buy more or wait until next month. Higher-priced plans include unlimited data, but as with most carriers, it gets throttled to 2G speed.
Piggybacks on: Sprint Starts at: $35 per month for unlimited voice minutes/texts, 1GB data BYOD: No In business since: 2001
Not long ago, Virgin Mobile offered some of the most competitive service plans around -- provided you were willing to buy one of their phones. The company continues to offer a good mix of models (including the iPhone 6S), but you still can't bring your own, and the carrier's service offerings now seem merely average, not exceptional.
However, if you like music, there's a solid perk in the form of Virgin's DataFreeMusic feature, which lets you stream unlimited tunes from the likes of iHeartRadio, Pandora and Slacker without impacting your monthly data allotment. Just make sure to check the coverage map first: Although Virgin taps Sprint's network, it doesn't provide the same roaming blanket as Sprint proper -- a potential problem if you live, work and/or travel in remote areas.