Still stuck joining a family plan with a bunch of strangers on one of the Big Four carriers (Verizon/AT&T/T-Mobile/Sprint)? Still frustrated by expensive monthly phone bills? By making good use of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), you can get away from high wireless costs and the hassle of forming groups, while getting the same or nearly the same service for less. Read on—an MVNO might be exactly what fits your needs.

【Mar1 Update】 Cricket Unlimited Plan dropped from $70/month to $60/month. With a 5-line group, it comes to $40/month/line. Existing $60 plan users may need to switch plans manually.

【5/19 Update】 Cricket Basic Plan data increased from 3G LTE to 4G LTE. With a 5-line group, it comes to $20/month/line.

What Is an MVNO?

MVNO stands for Mobile Virtual Network Operator. It refers to a wireless carrier that does not own its own network infrastructure, but provides wireless service to consumers. MVNOs have existed in Europe and the U.S. for many years. In China, after the market opened in 2013, many MVNOs also appeared, such as “Ali Telecom” and “JD Telecom.”

Why Choose an MVNO?

MVNOs buy carrier resources such as voice, text, and data from traditional carriers at wholesale rates (in the U.S., the Big Four plus US Cellular, and in China, the three major carriers), then repackage and sell those services to end users.

In the U.S., competition among carriers is extremely intense, so gaining market share becomes the top priority. Because of the nature of wireless service, the additional cost of adding one more customer is close to zero (marginal cost is approximately 0). That means the key challenge for traditional carriers is maximizing utilization of their existing network capacity, since idle equipment generates no return. When an MVNO comes along and wants to buy resources in bulk, traditional carriers—especially weaker ones—are usually happy to make that deal. For them, improving utilization and expanding market share are urgent priorities. Of course, like any market, telecom has plenty of complexity, and chanye won’t go deeper into that here. Just remember one thing: by choosing the right MVNO for your needs, you can often spend less money and get more service.

One more important note: in most cases, an MVNO uses the network of one traditional carrier to provide service (GOOGLE PROJECT FI is an exception here). In terms of signal, as long as you are on that carrier’s native network, there is no difference from the traditional carrier’s own plans. That said, MVNOs generally do not offer roaming. For example, a T-Mobile-based MVNO usually will not roam onto another local carrier’s network (such as AT&T or others) in places where T-Mobile has no coverage, even if T-Mobile itself has a roaming agreement there. T-Mobile’s own postpaid plans, however, often do include that feature.

Also, MVNOs typically have lower network priority than the traditional carriers’ own plans, so performance can be worse when the network is congested. In general, though, this does not happen often except during large events (football games, etc.).

Common MVNO Options

Because the user experience with an MVNO is closely tied to the underlying network it uses, chanye will introduce some common options by base network (VerizonAT&TT-MOBILESprint). Of course, quite a few MVNOs have agreements with more than one host carrier, meaning they can use different networks.

This article does not aim to cover every MVNO out there—that would be impossible. The goal is simply to offer a starting point and give everyone some ideas.

Verizon

Total Wireless

Total Wireless’s biggest advantage is, of course, access to Verizon’s network. The downside is shared data, no throttled unlimited option, and your data cuts off once you go over the limit. It is also said that their customer service is not very good.

AT&T

Cricket

Ever since Cricket was acquired by AT&T, it has basically become AT&T’s favored prepaid brand. The signal is almost the same as AT&T’s own service (excluding roaming), but the pricing is very competitive.

Plans (all include unlimited talk and text within the U.S.; only data and other extra features are listed below):

  • 30: 1GB
  • 40: 4GB, eligible for autopay discount, eligible for group discount
  • 50: 8GB, eligible for autopay discount, eligible for group discount, unlimited international texting to 38 countries, unlimited calling to and roaming in Mexico/Canada
  • 60: Unlimited, eligible for autopay discount, eligible for group discount, unlimited international texting to 38 countries, unlimited calling to and roaming in Mexico/Canada

Autopay discount: set up autopay and get a $5 monthly discount.

Group discount: 2nd:-$10, 3rd:-$20, 4th:-$30, 5th:-$40. When a plan has five lines, the total discount is $100. For example, if all five lines are on the $40 plan, the discounted total price is $40*5-$100=$100 for all five lines.

Autopay discounts and group discounts cannot be combined.

Cricket throttles mobile data speeds as follows: LTE:8Mbps/HSPA+:4Mbps

H2O

H2O’s plans are similar to Cricket’s, but add international calling (including China) on top of what Cricket offers. Its multi-line discount is also less generous: only lines 2 through 4 receive a $10 discount per line.

For details, see the official website: https://www.h2owirelessnow.com/

Straight Talk

Straight Talk actually has agreements with all four major carriers, so it can run on all four networks (though coverage will differ depending on the network). Since ST originally operated on AT&T and T-Mobile, it is being placed under AT&T here for now.

As for ST’s plan features, chanye thinks there is nothing especially notable besides being able to buy 3 months, 6 months, or a full year of service at once for a discount.

ST also does not offer multi-line plans.

Official website: https://get.straighttalk.com/

T-Mobile

Because T-Mobile has historically been a weaker player in the wireless market and has a smaller tower footprint, MVNOs based on the T-Mobile network usually offer very competitive pricing, much like T-Mobile’s own plans.

MetroPCS

Metro PCS is to T-Mobile what Cricket is to AT&T. Both were acquired by the parent carrier, both operate as that carrier’s prepaid MVNO, and both are marketed as the “favorite child.” That said, Metro PCS’s multi-line discount is not as strong as Cricket’s. Its single-line pricing is also not as competitive as H2O’s, especially since H2O runs on AT&T’s network.

UltraMobile

UltraMobile’s plans are similar to H2O’s, so there is not much that needs to be said separately. You can think of it as a weaker-network version of H2O (T-Mobile vs. AT&T).

Its main selling point is that even its cheapest plan ($19) includes international calling to more than 60 countries, including China. So if you need that feature and do not need AT&T’s coverage, it is a very solid option.

Sprint

Like T-Mobile, Sprint is also one of the weaker major carriers, and it still maintains a whitelist policy: your device’s MEID must be on its whitelist in order to use the Sprint network. That creates quite a few limitations. On the other hand, pricing from Sprint MVNOs is very competitive.

FreedomPOP

Free, free, free! That is worth saying three times. FreedomPop claims to offer 100 monthly talk minutes, 100 text messages, and 200MB of data for free. Of course, if you need extra services, you will have to pay.

You can check its official page here: https://www.freedompop.com/home.htm.

There is also long-running discussion and coverage on the famous six-letter forum.

One reminder from chanye: while this company really does offer free service, there are also plenty of traps, and it is easy to end up paying by accident. So before jumping in, make sure to read the details carefully.

Also, its services are entirely data-based. To use its calling/texting service, you need to download its dedicated APP. So when you place calls through its service, they are actually routed over data/WIFI.

4G COMMUNITY (4GC)

To be honest, this MVNO is not really a phone plan. It is more like a MiFi-style wireless hotspot service.

Its homepage is here: https://www.4gcommunity.org/

As for pricing, it is shown in the image above. On a one-year basis, it looks very attractive. The company claims there is no hard data cap, which means it could potentially replace your home broadband. Pair it with SlingTv/PS vue/Directv Now, and you could even cancel your home cable internet entirely and become a cord cutter.

The difference between Premium and the regular plan is that Premium can use carrier aggregation technology (on Sprint’s network, that means aggregation across bands 25, 26, and 41, which Sprint calls the Spark network) to improve speed. In practice, though, since 25 and 41 are both high-frequency bands with weaker penetration, indoor performance is often not as good as using band 26 alone. According to feedback from users on the six-letter forum’s cell phone plan board, speeds can reach 20Mbps down and 20Mbps up in areas with good signal, but in weaker-signal areas, your mileage may vary.

Also, after 22gb of usage, your traffic may be deprioritized.

Plan Selection Guide

Different people have different needs, so the best plan naturally depends on the user. Here, chanye offers some personal recommendations for a few common use cases. If you have better suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.

Heavy data use + unlimited talk and text

  • Total wireless, cricket, h2o, etc.

International calling needs

  • H2O, ultra mobile

Coverage needs

  • Total Wireless, cricket, H2O, and other MVNOs based on Verizon/AT&T networks

Light usage needs

  • TruPhone (chanye will not go into detail here, but if you are interested, you can refer to this post on a certain six-letter forum)

Offbeat options

  • Ringplus (dead already, time to burn some paper), freedompop (lots of traps, but it really can be used for free), 4GC (wireless unlimited-data 4G LTE hotspot/MiFi on Sprint’s network)

Hat Tips

Mitbbs (the famous six-letter forum) cell phone plan board — chanye learned quite a bit from this board, and it is well worth browsing from time to time. In particular, Xiong Da’s post, “The Ultimate Guide to Cell Phone Plans,” provides very detailed introductions to many different plans.