What’s the Right Mobile Phone Plan for You?
With so many phone plans out there, it can be hard to decipher all the fine print and figure out what carriers’ plan works best for you. Do you value unlimited data? Or is it more important to have the best service everywhere you go? The trend in the industry is towards plans that offer unlimited talk and text with more data — and without those pesky two-year contracts.
With the recent announcement of Virgin Mobile’s iPhone-only plan and a new program called the “Inner Circle”, Virgin is truly disrupting the mobile space and reinventing what it means to be a cell service provider. The Inner Circle plan by Virgin Mobile is $50 – which is incredible value vs all the other carriers – but for a limited time, it is only $1 for 12 months. Virgin is changing the game by offering nearly free service for a year if you purchase an iPhone through them plus a variety of cool perks, one of which is a free ticket on Virgin Atlantic.
We’ll outline a variety of carriers’ plans so you can figure out what best suits your needs:
Virgin Mobile
The Inner Circle by Virgin Mobile offers a revolutionary phone plan compared to what normal cell phone services providers have offered in the past. Its plan is great for those who value flexibility, low costs, and awesome extras.
So for those who don’t want to worry about going over what can sometimes be a meager amount of data every month, then Virgin Mobile’s Inner Circle plan would be for you with its unlimited talk, text and data at up to 4G LTE speeds. What sweetens the deal even more is that you can get 12 months of unlimited service for just $1 once you buy an iPhone through the carrier or at an Apple store.
Becoming part of the Inner Circle with Virgin mobile opens the door to other Virgin brands, such as Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Hotels, and Virgin Wines. With it comes a unique set of perks which include a free companion ticket on Virgin Atlantic for flights to the UK, a free night at a Virgin Hotel, 20% off Virgin America flights, discounts on Virgin’s wine club and more.
Combining Virgin Mobile’s cell service with their other brand offerings redefines the traditional phone plan for the consumer. These perks, along with the plan’s low price, are unlike any other mobile plan that has existed before.
Now if you want the $1 a year service or the extra benefits you’ll have to sign up by July 31st, after that you’ll only get 6 months of service for $1. And after the first year, you’ll only be paying $50 a month, still making it the lowest offering from any of the major carriers.
Virgin’s innovative plan gets high marks for its unbelievable price of $1 for unlimited service for one year on its great 4G LTE network — and the partnerships with other Virgin brands are just the cherry on top.
Verizon
“Can you hear me now?” The phrase still rings true today, with Verizon being known as a dependable carrier who gets good ratings for coverage and unlimited data.
If you break down its phone plans you’ll find the carrier offers 4 different options in regards to data. If you want unlimited talk, text and data you’ll be shelling out $80 a month but Verizon’s plan includes HD video streaming and unlimited mobile hotspotting, so you’ll really be able to take advantage of its speedy service.
And if you choose to go with a plan that caps your monthly data use, the carrier will actually allow you to carry over any unused data into the next month,
Although Verizon doesn’t offer cool freebies like Virgin, it is known for great coverage. For those in remote areas who crave lots of data where easily accessible wi-fi is limited, Verizon may be right for you. Verizon delivers with speed, performance, and reliability, but you’ll be paying a premium for premium service.
T-Mobile
T-mobile is a peculiar cell phone company. Over the years it has bucked many of the industry trends and even dubbed themselves the “un-carrier” because of its unusual actions. It was the first to drop contracts and the three big carriers followed in its footsteps. However, the company has had a reputation of having spotty reliability but have started to shed that image with the purchase of various telecom companies in recent years.
Right now, T-Mobile offers its T-Mobile ONE plan which gets you unlimited talk, text and data for $70 a month. Cheaper than Verizon but more expensive than Virgin, T-Mobile offers an in between for those who are looking for a carrier that gives them solid service at reasonable prices. Over the last two-years, T-mobile has doubled the coverage of its 4G LTE network, and it also claims it’s the fastest nationwide.
The only problem with the provider is that it still lags behind the three major carriers in terms of geographical area it covers, with its service in rural areas significantly lacking. So if you travel outside of the suburbs often, you might want to think twice about signing up with the company.
T-mobile does deserve kudos for what it’s brought to the table with T-Mobile Tuesdays, which is a weekly giveaway conducted by the carrier that hands out items to T-Mobile subscribers from free pizza and movie rentals to even things like a season’s subscription to MLB.TV.
If you value decent service and a company that seems to care about its customers, then T-Mobile may be the choice for you.
AT&T
AT&T comes in with a reputation of reliable coverage and fair prices. It has never been as good as Verizon in terms of service quality and its prices aren’t as low as Virgin’s. AT&T is a nice middle of the road company if you want a balance of all the important factors that come into play when choosing a cell service provider.
For $60 a month you’ll have access to AT&T’s basic unlimited data plan that gives you all the talk, text, and internet browsing you want, but video can’t be streamed in HD and you won’t be able to turn your phone into a mobile hotspot. If you desire that, you’ll have to sign up for its Unlimited Plus plan, which starts at a pricey $90 a month. Now, AT&T does offer cheaper choices, but you will have low caps on your data usage.
The company is known to have reliable and speedy service in most areas which you should be able to find in majority of the country.
You can score some extras if you choose AT&T’s premium Unlimited Plus plan where the company will throw in a free subscription to HBO, which you’ll be able to watch in HD (although AT&T may decrease video quality after you’ve used 22GB of data in a month). Or you can choose to bundle services like with the basic Unlimited Choice data plan plus DIRECTV NOW for $70 a month, if you bought the services separately you’d be paying $95 a month.
If you’re looking for the cheapest carrier or the one with the best coverage, then AT&T should be avoided, but if you want a good combination of price and service, then the carrier is definitely worth considering.
So, what’s right for you?
The Inner Circle by Virgin Mobile is definitely one of the better plans out there and it’s quite hard not to choose them when it’s offering an entire year’s worth of unlimited talk, text and data on its 4G LTE network for only $1 (not to mention a free airplane ticket along with the other premium perks). It’s a plan that is not only attractive but is unlike any mobile option currently on the market. Verizon and AT&T shine with coverage but definitely not on prices, while T-Mobile falls somewhere in between.
Keep in mind that for every person there is a carrier that probably fits his or her lifestyle best, so make sure you take into consideration price, network performance, reliability and any extras that the company may throw in.