Over the past two years, I have been fairly focused on reducing unnecessary costs. The way I look at it, debt minimization or elimination is the key to freedom and the easiest way of achieving that is to not over-pay for products and services. At the moment, I am paying $25/mo for cellphone service and $8/mo for MiFi service. I want to use this post to focus on options for cellphone service.
I am going to look exclusively at service for smartphones. I am also limiting the search to services that offer unlimited data. I am sure you can shave a penny by buying a plan with 500mb per month but I do not see the sense in that. I also did not bother with any services that required a service contract. All of these plans ended up offering unlimited voice minutes.
| Provider | Plan | Cost Per Month | BBB Rating | “Full Speed” Data Cap |
Technology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Wireless | WiFi + Cell (3G) Talk, Text, & Data | $25 | A+ | 5 GB | CDMA / Sprint / 3G |
| Republic Wireless | WiFi + Cell (4G) Talk, Text, & Data | $40 | A+ | 5 GB | CDMA / Sprint / LTE |
| Straight Talk | Unlimited 1 Month | $45 | A | 2.5 GB | GSM / AT&T or T-mobile / HSPA or LTE |
| Aio | Aio Smart | $55 | N/A | 2 GB | GSM / AT&T / LTE |
| Aio | Aio Pro | $70 | N/A | 7 GB | GSM / AT&T / LTE |
| GoSmart Mobile | UNLIMITED TALK, TEXT & WEB | $35 | B- | None | GSM / T-mobile / 2G |
| GoSmart Mobile | UNLIMITED TALK, TEXT & HIGH-SPEED WEB | $45 | B- | 5 GB | GSM / T-mobile / 3G |
| Solavei | 500MB High Speed Data | $39 | B- | 500 MB | GSM / T-mobile / HSPA+ |
| Solavei | 2GB High Speed Data | $49 | B- | 2 GB | GSM / T-mobile / HSPA+ |
| Simple Mobile | UNLIMITED 1GB | $40 | A | 1 GB | GSM / AT&T or T-mobile / HSPA+ |
| Simple Mobile | UNLIMITED 3GB | $50 | A | 3 GB | GSM / AT&T or T-mobile / HSPA+ |
| Virgin Mobile | Unlimited Beyond Talk | $55 | A+ | 2.5 GB | CDMA / Sprint / LTE or WiMax |
| Cricket | $50 SMART PLAN | $50 | A+ | 2.5 GB | CDMA / LTE |
| Cricket | $60 SMART PLAN | $60 | A+ | 5 GB | CDMA / LTE |
| Boost Mobile | $55 Monthly Unlimited | $55 | A+ | 2.5 GB | CDMA / Sprint / LTE or WiMax |
| Sprint | Sprint As You Go Smart Phone | $60 | N/A | None | CDMA / LTE or WiMax |
| T-mobile | Unlimited talk, text and web | $70 | B- | None | GSM / LTE or HSPA+ |
| Chit Chat Mobile | Unlimited Talk/Text/Data (LTE) | $54.99 | F | None | CDMA / Sprint / LTE |
I will probably need to revisit this chart once per year or so. Are you considering a service that is not listed? Feel free to leave a comment below.
Are you planning to compile a UK based list?