The past couple years have been tough on everybody, and plenty of us are feeling the economic impact on our wallets. At the same time, it's felt more essential than ever to be able to stay connected and get online. If the pricing for standard carrier/MVNO plans has put you off in the past, or if you think you're paying too much right now, T-Mobile's got a new ultra-cheap, no-frills $10 service plan that might be worth looking at — though there are a few catches you need to be aware of first.

The new $10 plan builds on top of the carrier's earlier efforts to keep Americans connected through the pandemic: Two years ago, right as COVID was spreading like wildfire around the globe, the company announced an assortment of low-priced Connect plans, including one for as low $15 per month. While that was already pretty darn affordable, this latest plan takes the cake.

Granted, that $10 doesn't buy you a lot. Subscribers get 1GB of high-speed smartphone data (5G, even), plus 1,000 minutes of calls and 1,000 texts, all for domestic use only. But that's it: nothing unlimited here. The same catch as last time applies — if you run out of your allotted data, you're done for the month, and there isn't any low-speed connection to fall back on.

If you need more than that, though, you still have the option of the existing Connect plans — $15 gets you unlimited calls and texts, and bumps data up to 3GB. There are also $25 and $35 tiers that come with 6GB and 12GB, respectively. Just think about what you actually need before committing to any of these — a $10 monthly smartphone bill may sound pretty nice, but can you really get by on just 1GB? Maybe springing for the $15 plan isn't such a bad idea, after all.