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Best phone carriers in 2024
There are a ton of plans to choose from, but the best network mostly comes down to coverage in your area
Phones get all the attention for their flashy hardware and features, but it's important to ensure you’re on the right carrier to get the best coverage and connectivity. If you want to switch to a new carrier, the first thing to consider is coverage. This can vary depending on where you live. The Big Three carriers offer solid LTE coverage for most Americans. Rural customers need to be more careful and double-check the coverage map before signing up. If you want to take full advantage of a new phone, you’ll want a carrier with strong mid-band 5G coverage.
Republic Wireless dishes out new look, new plans, and disappointment
Loyal fans aren't happy with some of the changes
Dish has made its mark on its newest acquisition with a new logo and new plans for virtual carrier Republic Wireless and by how people are reacting to it all, we think this will leave a stain.
AT&T thinks you'll put up with ads in exchange for a cheaper phone bill
These ad-supported plans could arrive in as little as a year
You may not have heard of ad-supported phone plans before, but companies have experimented with them since the early 2000s. According to an interview with CEO John Stankey, AT&T is looking into such plans and could announce them in as soon as a year.
Netflix undercuts its Basic plan with a cheaper Mobile+ offer
HD playback on one device, but no TV support
Netflix is trying to gain ground in India’s crowded and largely price-sensitive online streaming market. The global giant already runs a lengthy lineup of local programming and it recently started offering cheaper plans — costing as low as $3 — to draw more users. Keeping up with that approach, Netflix recently began testing a new Mobile+ plan, which sits right between the existing Mobile and Basic tiers.
Verizon's new prepaid plans get cheaper the longer you subscribe
Starting with a $5 discount after 3 months
It's been at least a few months since Verizon changed its rate plans, and you know what that means. Yes, we are long past due for new Verizon plans. The carrier's latest prepaid plans offer several data tiers as usual, but now you get $5 discounts after three and nine months as a customer.
T-Mobile introducing $15 plan in wake of coronavirus (Update: Fine print)
Metro offering temporary $15 rate, other deals
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One of the many concessions T-Mobile promised if it were allowed to merge with Sprint was that it would offer super-cheap wireless plans starting at $15 per month. Since then, however, the novel coronavirus has forced many customers out of work. While ISPs are accepting deferred payments for monthly bills, that may not be enough for people whose budgets continue to shrink. So, T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile have decided to roll out those new rate plans starting this Wednesday, March 25.
Netflix is now banking on its newer markets as growth in the US has halted amidst rising competition from up-and-coming, cash-rich services like Disney+ and Apple TV+. It’s been exploiting the growth potential in several Asian markets by releasing more regional content and targeting the untapped market section with a cheaper mobile-only plan. The company is also seemingly willing to get more aggressive with its subscription tiers as it’s testing discounted, long-duration plans with a small user group in the Indian market.
International roaming used to be catastrophically expensive 100% of the time, but it's slightly less so now. T-Mobile helped pave the way for that when it started offering free 2G roaming in most countries. Leaked documents indicate that Tmo is planning a new add-on for its One plans that gives you unlimited international roaming, but it's spendy.
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Verizon's prepaid service used to be of questionable value, but the carrier has aggressively lowered pricing in recent years. In 2017, it announced simplified, cheaper pricing for prepaid, and now it's making prepaid plans an even better deal with more date for fewer dollars. You can even get unlimited prepaid data for as little as $65.
We all know that the supposed "unlimited" plans offered by US carriers actually impose a large number of limits. So, you might as well get something for putting up with them. US Cellular's new Unlimited with Payback plan comes with an interesting offer. Use as much data as you want, but you can get $10 back on your next bill if you keep your usage lower.
I think we can all agree at this point that the term "unlimited" has become utterly meaningless in the context of phone plans. Most unlimited plans include at least a few odd limits, but Sprint's latest offerings are really impressive in how many limits they apply to "unlimited" service. The old Unlimited Freedom plan will soon be replaced by Unlimited Basic and Unlimited Plus.
Google Lens is one of the more incredible examples of machine learning in action. It's one thing to take a picture, but it's entirely another when you can use it as a means of learning more about the world around you. If you haven't used it, you'll just have to trust us - or read some of our previous coverage - when we say that it's highly nifty. And Google plans on making it even more useful in the future, with improvements for shopping, nature, new AR experiences, and a new OCR (optical character recognition) model.
Verizon used to be one of the most expensive carriers no matter what sort of service you had. However, Big Red has been easing back on the cost lately. Even its prepaid plans are getting reasonable. There's already an $80 unlimited prepaid option, and beginning June 6th there will be some better tiered plans to go with it.
T-Mobile has been changing its postpaid plans approximately every five seconds for the last few years, but the prepaid plans haven't gotten as much attention. They're being changed up today, though. There are three new plans total; two "Simply Prepaid" and a "ONE Prepaid." They start at $45 per month.
T-Mobile announced some significant changes to its ONE plan recently to counter Verizon's new unlimited offer. That new plan is live today, and there are a few other small changes worth knowing about. T-Mobile's international roaming will be faster and the Plus upgrade is cheaper.
After a few years of rarity, unlimited data plans are a thing again. Verizon kicked off this recent round of plan changes with its unlimited plan last week. It was then followed by T-Mobile, Sprint, and now AT&T. Like Tmo and Sprint, AT&T had an unlimited plan, but it's making some changes. The main one being you can buy it now—no more restricting access to DirecTV subscribers. It's still way expensive, though.
Verizon recently brought back an unlimited data option, and T-Mobile made its ONE plan less awful in response. Now it's Sprint's turn to roll out a new unlimited plan with included HD video. Pricing starts at $50 per month, but it sounds like this is only available to new customers. Feeling bummed yet? It gets worse. The cheap price is only offered through next March, then your bill goes up.
In other Verizon news today, the cell operator announced two new options for its prepaid customers. Both offer quite a bit of data for prices that are not too bad considering that this is Verizon we're talking about. The first of these new plans is a 5GB for $50 per month tier, followed by 10GB for $70 per month. Both are available starting November 13.
T-Mobile tweaks upcoming T-Mobile One plan with faster hotspot speeds, HD video day passes, and more
T-Mobile has caught a lot of flak since it announced the new T-Mobile One plan, which it promotes as unlimited. There are a surprising number of limits, though. To counter the criticism, T-Mobile has announced a few changes to One, but some of those changes are simply opportunities to give T-Mobile more money for features you already have.
T-Mobile made a big change to its plans yesterday by getting rid of all of them except for T-Mobile One, which offers unlimited data. There are a number of big drawbacks to that plan, but Sprint likes the sound of those drawbacks, so it has followed suit with a plan called Unlimited Freedom. It's a lot like One, but a few bucks cheaper with a slightly different set of restrictions.