Before We Start

In the U.S., you can actually save quite a bit on cell phones and phone plans. When promotions are available, you may even be able to get an iPhone at an extremely low price. We have already published quite a few cell phone-related articles on this site, but for beginners, all the terminology and strategies can be hard to understand at first. So in this article, we’ll organize the basics of cell phone plans for newcomers, help clarify the big picture, and make it easier to get started quickly.

About Carriers

The major U.S. wireless carriers can generally be divided into two categories: traditional carriers and MVNOs.

Traditional Carriers

These are mainly AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint (which was acquired by T-Mobile in 2020). They all have their own cell towers and large-scale networks, as well as more retail stores and customer service staff, so their overall service tends to be more reliable. They often run attractive phone promotions, but their plan prices are relatively higher. In major cities, these carriers tend to have similar coverage and speeds, but in more remote areas such as national parks, the differences can be more noticeable.

One thing to note is that AT&T and T-Mobile mainly use GSM networks, while Verizon mainly used CDMA networks. Most phones today support both standards, but some older phones may not support one of them. You can check on the carrier’s official website through the bring your own phone tool and enter your IMEI to see whether your phone is compatible.

MVNOs

Besides the major carriers, there are also many mobile virtual network operators in the U.S. These are telecom providers that do not own wireless network infrastructure themselves, but instead provide wireless service to consumers by using someone else’s network. In other words, an MVNO’s signal depends on the network infrastructure it uses. For example, H2O and Cricket use AT&T’s network, so their coverage is generally similar to AT&T’s. Their biggest characteristic is that they repackage wireless plans, market them separately, and then sell them to customers. Because of that, they often have some very good offers when it comes to phone deals and promotions.

The MVNOs under each network are listed below. Some MVNOs may have agreements with multiple traditional carriers and can switch between providers.

  • T-Mobile: Mint Mobile, Consumer Cellular, Metro by T-Mobile, Google Fi, Simply Mobile, Ultra Mobile, Tello（Sprint）, Boost Mobile, Unreal Mobile（Sprint）, TextNow
  • Verizon: Visible（similar to a subsidiary）, Xfinity Mobile, Twigby, Ting, Spectrum Mobile, Page Plus, Pix Wireless, Credo Mobile, Lively, Net10, Reach Mobile, Red Pocket, Straight Talk, Total Wireless, TracFone
  • AT&T: Consumer Cellular, Cricket, FreedomPop, FreeUP Mobile, Good2Go Mobile, H20 Wireless, Net10, Red Pocket, Straight Talk, TracFone

MVNOs are generally fine for use within the U.S., and many of them offer plans with very good value. However, service quality can vary more, and you may run into situations where customer service is poor or difficult to reach when something goes wrong. If you travel internationally often and need roaming, a traditional carrier is usually the safer choice.

How to Choose

There are three basic choices. Just pick the one that fits you best:

  • Traditional carrier: You do not like learning new systems, do not like dealing with hassle, and prefer more stable service.
  • MVNO: You like learning new things, are interested in money-saving or even money-making promotions, and do not have high service expectations. You also do not need to use the plan outside the U.S.
  • I want both: This is for people who are truly experienced and know how to switch among carriers to get the cheapest plans and the cheapest phones.

About Plans

Cell phone plans in the U.S. can be divided into two types: prepaid plans and postpaid plans.

Prepaid Plan

These plans are relatively simple. You need to add money to your account first, and then you can use the service normally. These plans offer relatively high flexibility and are usually billed month to month. You do not need to stay with the carrier for any fixed length of time before switching, and you can move to another carrier at any time. With a prepaid plan, you can also add various options as needed: if you run out of data, add more data; if you need more talk time, add more minutes; and if you do not use up your balance this month, it can roll over to the next month. Overall, this type of plan is especially suitable for people who do not make many calls and have Wi-Fi available almost everywhere. In addition, prepaid SIM cards can be bought at most major supermarkets, and once you buy one and load money onto it, you can use it right away. No registration and no credit check are required.

Personally, I used a prepaid plan for a long time after coming to the U.S. I used an AT&T GoPhone plan with no fixed monthly fee, and I paid based on how much I used for calls and data. I rarely made phone calls to begin with—at most, my advisor or friends would contact me if something urgent came up, and most regular matters were handled by email. Also, there was free Wi-Fi at school, at home, on the bus, and in many other places, so I really did not need mobile data. As a result, I only spent a few dollars per month, though I still had to reload $25 every three months to keep the balance from expiring. When traveling, I could just buy a $2-per-day unlimited data + unlimited talk add-on. So in my opinion, if you do not really need data or talk service, this kind of prepaid plan is the most hassle-free option. Likewise, if you have family members visiting for a short time, or if elderly family members stay at home most of the time, this kind of plan is often the best fit.

One useful trick with prepaid plans is that you can buy refill cards at supermarkets, on Amazon, or on eBay. These places often have extra credit card rewards or other promotions, which can save you quite a bit of money. If you really cannot find any deals, I used to recharge my account directly through callingmart, which offered some discounts and some points back.

Post Paid Plan

Postpaid plans are probably the most fiercely competitive battleground among the traditional carriers. They often use attractive family plans and phone contracts to lock you in for 2 years. Once most people join, they tend not to switch carriers or plans for a long time. Whenever the contract ends, the carrier will promote a new phone model and try to lock you in for another two years. In addition, postpaid plans often require some credit history, and in some cases you may even need an SSN to be the primary account holder. Otherwise, you may have to stay under someone else’s plan. It is also common to hear about issues with family plans, such as someone using too much data or failing to pay their share of the bill, so you should choose carefully in this area.

Usually, the plan structure is fairly similar: talk + data + family plan. You will need to estimate your own usage and decide which plan is the most cost-effective, so I will not go into detailed analysis here (personally, I do not think it is that meaningful). If you are determined to stick with one carrier’s plan for the long term, I recommend calling the carrier whenever it is time to renew and complaining that the price is too high or something similar—you may get surprisingly good results. Customer service may offer you an extra discount or additional account credit. In short, it never hurts to ask.

I’m not going to judge which plan from each carrier offers the best value. As long as you just keep using the same one, you usually end up being the one getting milked in the long run. Why? Because in my view:

  • The best-value plan is always the next plan!

We’ll explain this point in more detail below.

How to Choose

There are three options, and you can simply pick the one that fits you:

  • Prepaid Plan: For lighter usage, short-term temporary use, or if you don’t want to join someone else’s family plan.
  • Post Paid Plan: For people with relatively balanced but higher usage, especially if you have long-term stable members to form a family plan. Also suitable if you don’t like constantly tinkering or researching ways to save or make money through your phone number.
  • Unlimited Number Porting: For people interested in researching how to save or make money by switching carriers with their phone number.

Endless Opportunities With Number Porting

After covering some basic information, you should now have a general understanding of US carriers and mobile plans. Next, let’s get into the details of our strategy.

What major wireless carriers love most is blasting ads everywhere to get you to switch over from another carrier, commonly known as number porting. They often advertise things like a free iPhone, $100 in monthly bill credits, or even paying off your phone contract termination fees. For most people, once they switch, there’s a high chance they won’t want to move again, and after the contract period ends, they’ll just keep using the new contract. Once a carrier spends money to acquire you, you basically become their customer for life.

The smarter approach is to keep looking for the next carrier offering a large incentive, weigh the cost, and then jump. It’s just like changing jobs: the raise you get from staying in one place is almost always worse than what you get from switching. In the US, porting your number between carriers is also very easy. You provide some basic information, and the new carrier can pull your number over directly—they generally don’t care how many times you’ve switched before. In theory, as long as there’s a good promotion, you can keep taking your number from one carrier to another, collecting a big rebate and cheap phone deals each time. For example, I previously got a Visible iPhone 12SE for a net cost of $150, and that figure already included 2-3 months of service costs. If you already need a phone number anyway, that’s almost free. Best of all, number porting is usually seamless and doesn’t interfere with your calls or data, so it’s fine even if you use your main number.

So what does the general process look like? In summary:

  • Find a good number-porting promotion
  • Estimate the cost roughly first (we provide deal breakdowns on this site, so feel free to follow along!)
  • Use your current carrier account information and phone number to join the offer with the new carrier
  • Wait for the number port to complete (usually a few hours, with seamless switching)
  • Receive bill credits, rebate rewards, or buy an iPhone at a low price
  • Move to a cheaper MVNO afterward (or stay if you want) and wait for the next porting deal

Of course, using only your own main number is not very efficient. You can prepare several no-monthly-fee prepaid plan numbers, Google Voice, or even buy numbers directly when needed. That way, you can use less important numbers for number-porting deals without affecting your primary number.

For detailed analysis and step-by-step instructions, see:

There are also some good ways to get numbers you can keep in reserve for future number-porting deals:

Common Promotions

We’ve compiled quite a few recent number-porting deals on this site. You can refer to the individual articles for instructions. If anything is unclear, be sure to leave a comment and ask—some porting deals have pitfalls, and asking experienced readers can save you a lot of time and unnecessary cost. Note that the deals below are all time-sensitive, but the overall process is usually similar. You can use the process described here together with the current port-in offer on each carrier’s official website to decide what works best. We also update the best offers from each carrier in a timely manner.

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