The cheapest mobile phone tariffs in 2024

Americans spend an average of $141 on their phone bill each month.¹ Wow. That’s almost $1,700 per year!

The good news is that there are many phone plans to choose from at different price points. Let’s explore the best options for the cheapest cell phone plans so you can find one that suits your needs and budget.

Cheapest mobile phone tariffs

To find the best deal, you can not Only Consider the cost – You also need to consider features like data, messages, minutes and coverage to help you find the right plan for your life.

Below you will find a breakdown of the currently cheapest mobile phone tariffs and their offers.

Connect by T-Mobile: Cheapest mobile phone plan from a major provider

Many of us love the plans offered by our major cell phone providers. In fact, the cell phone plan I personally have is Verizon’s unlimited data plan through my employer (thanks for picking up the tab, Dave!). But let me do the research for the best option for your Budget. Survey says: The cheapest mobile phone plan from a significant The network operator is T‑Mobile.

At just $180 per year (or, as they advertise it, $15 per month), T-Mobile’s prepaid Connect plan is the cheapest plan you’ll find among the big guys.

• Cost: $15 per month
• Data, messages and protocol: With this plan, you get unlimited talk and text speeds with up to 5GB of high-speed data. Let me do the math for you: With 5GB of data, you can use TikTok for 5 hours (what a data hog), stream Netflix for 20 hours, or listen to music on Spotify for 35 hours.² Series marathons The office might be difficult on this plan, but hey, you get unlimited talk and text time, so you have no excuse not to call your mom! (PS: This is your reminder to call your mom.)
• Cover: T-Mobile’s coverage is pretty solid, covering 59% of the lower 48 states. For comparison, coverage giant Verizon covers 70% of the same area, so T-Mobile isn’t far behind. Plus, T-Mobile beats Verizon’s download and upload speeds.³

A little hint: The big three will try to lure you in with cheap offers – but you have to read the fine print (that was not a reference to my podcast, The small printbut I take this opportunity to tell you that it exists). None of the offers I have researched tell you the real Price you pay. They show you a imaginary Price for each phone line. But then you’re forced to sign a contract with a bunch of extra services, maybe even multiple lines. Not cool, man. Not cool.

If you click and sign up without reading all the terms and conditions, you and your French bulldog may end up sharing seven lines. (May I point out that only one of you knows how to text?)

Tello: Cheapest unlimited calling plan

The three major wireless carriers – AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon – dominate the market. But there are over 100 low-cost carriers that offer the same services at a lower monthly cost by attaching themselves to these networks. One example: Tello.

Tello offers a great (and cheap) unlimited calling plan. Plus, it’s the only carrier that lets you buy exactly what you need. If you’re a millennial like me, you probably don’t make a lot of calls, so why pay for minutes? The easiest way to lower your cell phone bill is to cancel the data and minutes you don’t use.

• Data, messages and protocol: Tello is like a good pair of stretch pants. You can compress your plan to as little as 100 minutes, or expand it to include unlimited talk, text, and data, or anything in between. Honestly, I wish all plans were this flexible (and I wish all pants were a little stretchy). Tello’s unlimited data plan offers 35GB at full 4G LTE/5G speeds with 5GB of hotspot usage included. And every phone plan includes free international calling to over 60 countries, hotspot usage, Wi-Fi calling, and eSIM.⁴
• Cover: Tello is on T-Mobile’s superfast network. Again, T-Mobile’s coverage is a bit behind Verizon’s (59% of the continental US), but download and upload speeds are super fast.

PureTalk USA: Honorable Mention

I like PureTalk for many reasons. In addition to their affordable options, they offer real customer service with real people! The cell phone industry as a whole isn’t exactly known for quality customer service, but PureTalk makes it a priority. Another carrier (I won’t name names here) actually wrote in their terms of service, “No calls to customer service to complain about anything.” Crap!

• Cost: $20 per month
• Data, messages and protocol: PureTalk’s base plan gives you unlimited talk and text speeds, 3GB of data, and 2GB of hotspot usage. PureTalk also offers plans with increased data limits, up to unlimited data with 20GB of hotspot usage for $55 and 30GB of hotspot usage for $65, with high-speed data slowing down at 60GB.⁵ But let’s be honest: This is still a much of data, even for a data freak like me. Bonus point: There are no overage fees. Like I said, if you exceed your data, will slow down. But once your month resets, you’ll get your speed back!
• Cover: If you think PureTalk’s cheap plan means less coverage or slower speeds, you are completely wrong. PureTalk is on AT&T’s network, so you have access to the fastest network speeds.

Mint Mobile: Honorable Mention

Mint Mobile offers many cheap phone plans to choose from, with coverage and pricing to suit your needs and budget. However, you’ll get the most for your money with the 12-month Unlimited plan.

• Cost: $30 per month for the 12-month Unlimited plan

• Data, messages and protocol: Mint Mobile’s 12-month Unlimited plan gives you unlimited talk and text speeds (awesome!). But this particular plan is a little misleading because you don’t actually get unlimited data. You get up to 40GB (which is a lot), but you can’t stream to your heart’s content.⁶

• Cover: Mint Mobile uses T-Mobile for its network. If you’re unsure about T-Mobile’s coverage in your area, enter your zip code into Mint Mobile’s interactive coverage map to see if it works for you. There’s no point in signing up for a cheap unlimited phone plan if you have to live on a prayer and one bar of signal.

Visible: Honorable Mention

Heard of Visible? Visible is a discount brand of Verizon and offers only one unlimited plan. The plan is affordable and Verizon’s network is solid – so I’m giving them an honorable mention.

• Data, messages and protocol: Visible’s plan sounds good, right? It’s good, but you should know that the full power of 5G in terms of speed is only available for on the device Data. What data might you be using that isn’t on your actual smartphone? Your hotspot data. This is data you use to connect your phone to another device, like your laptop, over Wi-Fi. Visible limits the speed of your hotspot connection to 10 Mbps (megabits per second). But don’t worry – that’s actually fast enough to stream Netflix in HD.⁷

• Cover: Visible offers its customers access to Verizon’s powerful network at a fraction of the cost. However, depending on your location, you may be on Verizon’s 4G network instead of the 5G superhighway.

Overall cheapest mobile phone plan: Tello

The cheapest cell phone plan overall is Tello’s. As I said, the options allow you to customize your plan to fit your life circumstances. You could get your bill down to just $5 a month if you really want to cut back on the essentials – that’s pretty unbeatable in this wild wireless world we’re in.

Even my wife switched her phone plan to Tello without any problems and is thrilled. And not just because Tello sponsors my YouTube channel. Facts are undeniable – and the fact is that Tello offers a great plan at a super low price!

So look around, get informed and switch. That’s the secret to saving money on cell phone plans.

But that’s the point: cutting cell phone costs won’t do much good if you’re going to spend all that extra money accidentally (or impulsively) anyway! That’s why you need to create a budget.

With a solid budget, you are in control of your money. You plan and track all your expenses. You find ways to save (like your cell phone bill if you switch providers). And then you can use those freed-up funds for the things you actually wantlike paying off debt, taking the family vacation of your dreams, or… basically anything else.

This is where EveryDollar can help. The free version of EveryDollar includes everything you need to create a budget quickly and easily – which is always a win.

So here’s your to-do list after everything we’ve discussed: Switch to a cheaper cell phone carrier, download EveryDollar, and start saving money. Right now.