The Best Cell Phone Plans (and How I’m Saving Big)

All the Hacks: Money, Points & Life

Host Chris Hutchins breaks down the deceptive nature of 'free' phone deals from major carriers and explains how to transition to much cheape

Key takeaways

• Carrier 'free' phone deals are actually long-term commitments where device credits are spread over 36 months, often masking much higher monthly plan costs.
• US Mobile is highlighted as a top choice due to its unique multi-network feature that allows users to switch between AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile networks via eSIM.

Main topics

• Cell phone carrier landscape
• MVNO vs Major Carriers

Notable quotes

I hate wasting money, and yet for the last few years, I've been overpaying on my cell phone bill every single month on purpose because I locked myself into a carrier that gave me a new iPhone and made it feel free.

Conclusion

By moving away from legacy carrier contracts and leveraging modern MVN

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) I hate wasting money, and yet for the last few years, I've been overpaying on my cell phone bill every single month on purpose because I locked myself into a carrier that gave me a new iPhone and made it feel free. Except it definitely wasn't free, and those device credits you get almost never make up for the overpriced plan. When I dug in and ran the numbers, there were so many other carriers with plans that are less expensive, actually sometimes have better features and run on the exact same networks. So now that my device credits are over, I am a free agent and I am excited to get a new phone on a new carrier. And of course I want the best deal I can get. So I went deep on this cell phone plan and carrier analysis, and today I'm going to break down the system carriers use to make you feel good about paying more, the exact carriers and plans I'd actually consider today, including the one I'm switching to, and the amazing features some carriers now offer, like having unlimited data from multiple networks. Finally, if you're in the market for a new phone right now, I'll share how to make sure you get the best deal, even if you're buying it from your existing carrier. I'm Chris Hutchins. If you enjoyed this episode, leave a comment or share it with a friend. And if you want to keep upgrading your money points in life, click follow or subscribe. Okay, so I have been on T-Mobile for the past few years and I loved it really. But with my contract ending and new iPhones coming out and a bunch of changes, I realized I'm a free agent and I wanted to evaluate the situation. And I realized now I am definitely leaving. Sorry, T-Mobile. You've been great to me. But when I evaluate this space, it is clear to me that I think most of us are overpaying and there's a lot of opportunity to save and even get a better product. So I'm going to share my process to hopefully help you save a ton of time not having to do this research, but more importantly, save a ton of money. So why is this even happening right now? Well, it is iPhone season. New iPhones just got announced, which means that my two years of device credit lock-ins from T-Mobile when I got my iPhone 16 Pro are about to expire, which really frees me up to move. I'm also very excited to try out the iPhone Duo. I feel like I've been wanting a device that could also grow to be kind of like an iPad and maybe be more usable. And so, I don't know, I'm just excited. I 3D printed a version of the Duo so I could kind of hold it and see what the shape is like. I don't know, I think it's gonna be awesome. We'll see, I'll share more after I get a chance to use it. And part of this was me trying to see. How do I get a deal on that? Should I get one of these carrier deals? Well, it turns out the deals that you see advertised from carriers are not actually deals at all. Now, there might be some edge cases where that's not true, but when I ran through the options, it seemed like I was actually going to be paying so much more for the plan that even these huge discounts didn't matter. That said, I'm going to give a full rundown on how to take advantage of all these iPhone deals, even if you want to buy with a carrier, because there's a lot of mistakes that I've made in the past that I think could save you a lot of time and hassle, again, even if you're going to go that path. So let's first zoom back, talk about the lay of the land when it comes to cell phone plans. I did an episode on this exact topic three years ago, but a lot has changed. So I think it's good to come back and relook at things. First off, in the US, there are three main carriers. There's AT &T, there's Verizon, and there's T-Mobile. Now, there are some other smaller edge case carriers, but those are the primary ones. And they have their own plans, but they also have their own sub brands, brands that they own themselves that operate on their networks. So AT &T has Cricket, T-Mobile has Mint and Metro, Verizon has Total, Wireless, Visible, Simple, and a few others. And so it seems crazy, but you can actually get a Verizon plan from a company that's owned by Verizon for less than Verizon itself charges by going through one of these companies they own. But there are also things called mobile virtual. network operators, MVNOs, companies like US Mobile, Boost Mobile, Mobile X, which are not owned by the carriers, but who use the carrier's network to provide their services. So what has changed in the last few years that I think makes it worth doing this analysis again? The biggest one is that MVNOs have gotten so much better. They've started adding a lot of support for products like smartwatches, tablet lines. They've gotten access to higher priority data, way better international roaming options, and one carrier's even added the ability to have multiple networks on one plan. We've also seen eSIMs be adopted everywhere to the point that I think new iPhones don't even have a SIM tray. You just have to use an eSIM, which makes the process of switching so easy. You can set up a new carrier, install it on your phone in a few minutes without having to go anywhere, wait for anything to ship. Also, some of the functionality from legacy carriers seems to be getting worse. T-Mobile used to have this amazing feature where you could get free Wi-Fi on, I think, Alaska, American, United, and maybe Delta. But now all of those airlines have switched to either free Wi-Fi, sometimes free sponsored by T-Mobile, but not just for T-Mobile customers, or free Wi-Fi for everyone. So that perk of having T-Mobile, which if you travel a lot... added up. It's kind of gone. The device promos, I noticed that now when you want to get a discounted price on a new phone, you get that device credit paid off over three years instead of two years. Two years ago, I was able to actually upgrade my phone and get one of those credits. I'm technically on a T-Mobile business plan. This year, they told me that business accounts are not eligible for any new device promos. And then last, slowly rolling out over the last three or four years has been the fact that you can't pay off any of your bills on any of these carriers, usually using a credit card from the legacy carriers without losing a usually about $10 a month line discount. So all of that's been what's happening. So Let me talk about why the legacy carriers are actually so expensive. Because actually, there's two components, and one of them is not as bad as it seems. And so that is the way that they give discounts on phones. If you are not currently getting a subsidized phone from T-Mobile, Verizon, or AT &T, then you are very likely significantly overpaying. And so how it works, typically, is that you buy a new phone and they give you a huge discount. or you upgrade your phone and you trade in your old phone and they give you a huge amount in trade-in value for your phone beyond what the phone's worth. But in order to do that, you have to do two things. You have to finance the new device through them, usually over three years, and all that credit you get. they'll pay you out over three years. So I think right now, when I looked T-Mobile, Verizon, maybe AT &T, I can't remember, at least two of the three are offering you $1,200 off a new iPhone if you trade in an old iPhone. But that $1,200 ends up being, you know, and I can't remember the exact amount for taxes and fees, but somewhere around $30 a month where they'll charge you $30 a month for the phone, but then subtract $30 a month for the device credit. Now, there's a little bit of a twist here, which is if you ever get rid of that phone, Sometimes that gets rid of the financing and it messes with everything. So I've heard some stories of people who've lost their phone and had issues, but it's not always the case. But if you buy that phone through that carrier, you're also usually locked into that carrier to get that discount. So they don't have contracts per se anymore. You can leave anytime you want. But that subsidized phone you bought... You're not going to get the subsidy unless you stick around for three years. So effectively, you're locked in. You're just not locked in with a contract as much as you are with a discount that you don't get if you leave early. So how much does that add up? For me, I looked right now at getting a new iPhone 18 Pro, looked at trading in my 16 Pro, and the incremental value that I'm going to get by financing that and getting device credits through T-Mobile was $689. If I just go to the Apple Store, trade it in, don't even play with carriers, I'm going to get 510, I think, $511. And if you divide that over three years, the value they're effectively getting is saying, hey, commit to us for three years and we'll give you effectively $19 a month. So on the surface, that seems good, right? If the cost of those T-Mobile, AT &T, and Verizon plans were $15 more, but you get $19 of value from the phone, then that'd be great. However, when I compared almost every single AT &T, Verizon, and T-Mobile plan that offered the ability to get discounts on new phones to a comparable and sometimes even better plan running on the exact same network, it was usually $30 to $60 a month more expensive. So it completely wiped out that $19 a month savings. Now, that number might come down with a family plan, though... The benefits of family plans seemingly are going away. In fact, on many carriers, there's not even family plans anymore. You just get multiple lines and they are the price. There are still some promos that make family plans slightly better on the main carriers, but even factoring those in, they still didn't get small enough that that $19 a month savings closed the gap. Also, There's just something nice about not having to have a family plan when you don't need it for your immediate family. You know, right now, my sister's on our family plan on T-Mobile, and she just sets up a Venmo or a Zelle every month to me. But obviously, if that was unnecessary, it would just be a little less overhead for all of us. But that's how they work. They give you this huge deal. They make you think you're getting a free phone. But in fact, it's almost never as free as you think. So one slight thing that also changed this year, Verizon actually launched a new plan called the Simplicity Plan. It does not include any discounts on any phones in any way, shape, or form. And it does get closer to the carrier pricing. You'll notice how much cheaper that plan is than other plans. But compared to other plans you can get, even on the Verizon network, for that price, it is a worse plan and you can get equal or better plans for less money. So it's cool to see that Verizon is starting to move that direction. Doesn't seem like they're moving far enough for it to matter. This episode is brought to you by Quince. You know those pieces in your closet that you find yourself wearing on repeat? The sweater that goes with everything, the perfect pair of pants, or the t-shirt you somehow always reach for first. Those are the pieces that make getting dressed easy, and that is what Quince does best. I've been wearing a lot of Quince lately. 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All that said, there are a few features that you can only get using plans directly with the major carriers. So let's talk about all of them to combine. The biggest things are if you want AT &T or T-Mobile as your primary carrier and you want that service, you'll need to go directly to AT &T or T-Mobile if you want to get watch lines or tablet lines. Because I haven't found a carrier that operates on those networks that offers those features. Also, if you want to be on AT &T or T-Mobile or even Verizon, and you want a massive amount of full speed hotspot data, all three of those carriers offer 250 gig or 200 gigs of hotspot data in their most premium plans. Whereas most of the carriers that operate on their networks only go up to 50 gigabytes or they throttle the speed of that data. Now, if all you need is 50 gigabytes, or in the case of AT &T network, you can get up to 200 gigabytes. You can save a lot more money elsewhere. And then last on Verizon, I haven't found a carrier that operates on the Verizon network, but offers 4K streaming video. However, if you're using a VPN on your phone, which is way cheaper than the cost of using Verizon, most of the people I've found have said that that completely circumvents the rate limiting on 4K video. For some reason,