The Best Cell Phone Plans Wirecutter Reviews. Verizon is the nations largest carrier for good reason It offers the best coverage in the most places in the US, so youre more likely to have a signal no matter where you are. Its pricing is competitive with that of its three chief rivals for the amount of data that most people actually use. Dont want to worry about whether your phone connectsThis is the carrier for you. It isnt the best choice for people who frequently travel outside the US or who want an unlimited plan, but it is the first carrier everyone else should look at. The Verizon price plan menu today leads off with the 7. Go Unlimited planwhich most people dont actually need, and which in some ways is Verizons weakest offeringand the 8. Beyond Unlimited plan, which will push your post tax total to near 1. You should ignore those, plus the limited data options listed below them on Verizons site, and check out the 5 GB single line plan youll see if you select a phone. That plan is 5. 5 a month with Verizons auto pay discountlike the two unlimited offerings, though, it requires making payments from a checking account or debit card, so you can forget about running up points on a travel rewards credit card. The other catch That 5. Verizons other limited data postpaid plans, restricts the resolution of streaming video to 7. As of August 3. 0, 2. That offering, however, beats T Mobiles unlimited plan and what Sprints will cost after a current promotion runs out. MNtKsfSvpPo/0.jpg' alt='Best Sprint Phone With Wifi' title='Best Sprint Phone With Wifi' />And for the great many people who dont exceed 5 GB in a month, the price should matter less than Verizons continued network advantage. Prices and plans are current as of August 2. For T Mobile One, HD video and LTE hotspot cost 1. T Mobile Ones 1 GB option has a 1. GB. This 5 GB plan wont help you if you need multiple lines, but we have separate advice for multiple line scenarios. Best Sprint Phone With Wifi' title='Best Sprint Phone With Wifi' />We are not very fond of either of Verizons unlimited plans. Beyond banning HD streaming video and knee capping mobile hotspot speeds, the 7. Go Unlimited plan reserves the possibility of deprioritizing your data if you enter an area with network congestioneven at the start of a billing cycle, before youve burned up any data yourself. There are a lot of options beyond the big four phone carriers in the US. If youre looking to save money, these lesserknown plans might be the ticket. I know old thread but Just got an HTC phone Sprint at Google IO and never registeredactivated it in the first place with Sprint. Do you know if this does make. The quest for making free calls over WiFi with an Android device is not a new topic, but if youve gone down this road youre probably familiar with apps like. And as with the 5 GB plan, that price requires enabling automatic payments from a checking account or debit card. Unlike Verizons capped plans, it offers only 2. G domestic data roaming, which one reader complained about while noting his experience roaming in Alaska and Puerto Rico. And it excludes all of Verizons discounts except for its military and veterans offer. Were tempted to call this plan Basic Economy Unlimited. Verizons 8. Beyond Unlimited plan allows higher definition video7. GB of LTE tethering, puts Canada and Mexico in your home rate area, and allows deprioritization only after youve gone through 2. GB of data. But it imposes the same auto pay requirements. Because everyone on a Verizon multiple line plan has to share the same data bucket, Verizons multiple line rates have become less competitive now that the next step up after an 8 GB plan is the unlimited tier. Covering 5 GB each for four lines once cost 1. Verizon doesnt shackle with constraints, youll have to pay 2. Theme Aquarium Pc more. Beyond Unlimited or pay the same 1. Go Unlimited. That same change has raised the cost of 5 GB of use on two lines from 1. Go Unlimited. Verizons CDMA based network isnt capable of simultaneous voice and data use this means, for instance, that if youre using your phone to navigate while youre driving and you get a voice call where you dont have 4. G service, you may lose the call, but the companys far flung LTE deployment has addressed that problem in many areas. If you use Verizon Wireless for your cell phone and Verizon Fios for your home Internet and TV, you can stream live and recorded Fios shows without it counting toward your data allotment. This is the same kind of zero rating AT T does for its Direct. TV subscribers, and it could be a factor for you if you already have Fios at home. Verizons history of taking its time with software updates for its phones going back to Palm OS updates should worry Android device owners. But that isnt necessarily a dealbreaker, since you dont have to buy your phone from Verizon as long as the model you get supports its network. More and more unlocked phones are compatible with Verizon nowadays, including i. Phones, Googles Pixel handsets, most Motorola models, and some Samsung phones, though as you can see at Will My Phone Work, this group excludes GSM only phones like the Blu models popular on Amazon and some LTE models with limited frequency support, such as One. Pluss Android based phones. If you travel internationally, Verizons Travel. Pass can seem tempting. But while that option adds a reasonable 5 a day in Canada and Mexico to use voice, text, and data drawn from your domestic allowance, in much of the rest of the world you pay 1. Its list of supported countries has seen notable advances but still exhibits such sizable omissions as Malaysia, Nigeria, and South Africa. But Verizon phones are all sold unlocked, so you can and should use a local prepaid SIM when traveling internationally. Verizon offers discounts to employees and members of designated companies and organizationsbut aside from its military and veterans discount, none of them apply to the unlimited plan.