The cost of having a phone seems to be ever-rising, but there are ways to avoid price hikes. That might include looking beyond the three major players in the US market — those being Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile — and scouting out some deals at the lesser-known carriers that piggyback on the larger carriers’ networks. Though your coverage and customer service experience may differ, it could open you up to several additional options you may not have known about and save you some cash in the process.
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Best Budget Phone Plans in 2022 (and the Fine Print)
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Whether you are simply wanting to lower your current bill or switch to something new so you can add some more lines, there are various cheap phone plans available and some great deals you should be aware of. Below, we’ll show you the best phone plan deals available right now below.
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Best prepaid phone deals
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One of the best deals in wireless service comes from Mint Mobile. You can sign up for service for as little as $15 a month (prepaid in three-, six- or 12-month blocks), which is just a fraction of what the big carriers are charging. Mint Mobile runs on the nationwide T-Mobile network, so you’ll have service all over the place and getting started is as easy as answering a few questions online. You can move your current number to Mint Mobile with your current phone, or look to get new of both. It’s entirely up to you. Mint Mobile just rolled out some new family plan options as well.
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Visible is running several deals right now that are all worth considering depending on your current needs. If you bring in an old phone that’s not compatible with Visible’s network (which is built on Verizon’s nationwide network), you can get a ZTE Blade A7 Prime for free from Visible. If you finance your phone using Affirm through Visible, you can upgrade your phone once it’s paid off at least 50%. The final offer is a virtual gift card of up to $200 for people who transfer their existing number to Visible and complete three full months of service payments. After this, Visible will send a code to redeem for the virtual gift card.
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Verizon is one of the largest carriers in the US. It offers both prepaid and contract plans, but on the prepaid side the company rewards people who keep using the service and paying for it. Verizon offers prepaid customers up to $10 off per month for loyalty discounts. You need to be a prepaid customer for 10 months to see the discount, but for months four to nine you can save $5. In addition, Verizon offers those who use Autopay an additional $5 monthly discount, meaning you can save up to $15 a month for sticking around.
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Boost Mobile has been around for a long time and right now the carrier is offering one of its best deals yet. New customers can try out Boost’s 5G network for just $1 for the first month with 2GB of high-speed data. The SIM Kit and shipping are both free in this deal, making it a real no-brainer if you want to save some money. After the first month, you can sign up for plans at Boost Mobile with prices as low as $15 a month, depending how much data you plan to use.
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Metro by T-Mobile offers four different prepaid plans, with the top-tier option also including a free Amazon Prime subscription and a 100GB Google One membership. With this plan, you can also get four lines of service for $120 a month, which is the same price as you’d normally be able to get only three.
Best contract plan deals
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Instead of offering a monetary discount each month on its contract plans, Verizon has just continued to expand the amount of free extra items that are included with the plans. Right now, select plans offer free subscriptions to things like Hulu, Disney Plus, Apple Arcade, Apple Music, TravelPass and more. The freebies that are included with Verizon’s 5G Get More plan total up to $65, plus Verizon offers a $10 discount for those who enroll in Autopay.
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T-Mobile has a few different plan options that can save you money, but you have to meet certain requirements for some of them. For example, T-Mobile offers military, veterans, and first responders a discount as well as those who are over 55 years old. If you don’t qualify for either of those, everyone is eligible to buy two lines, get a third free, which means you can get three lines for as little as $90 a month. Like Verizon, T-Mobile also offers things like six months of Apple TV Plus a year of Paramount Plus for free, a standard Netflix subscription, and more.
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On its Unlimited Premium Plan, AT&T offers up 50GB of hotspot data and unlimited talk and text in 19 Latin American countries. These are in addition to the other normal offers, like unlimited talk and text, 5G access, AT&T Active Armor advanced mobile security and more, plus discounts for military, veterans, and medical workers.
