T-Mobile is one of the fastest-growing carriers in the United States thanks to aggressive pricing, marketing, and a penchant for doing the unexpected. The Uncarrier has significantly shaken up the mobile industry in the US, but is it the right carrier for you? Let’s look at the best T-Mobile plans and how they compare to the competition. After that, we’ll also help you pick the best T-Mobile phone for your needs.
Prices per line, plus taxes and fees:
$50 for one line
$40 for two lines
$33.33 for three lines
Prices per line, plus taxes/fees:
$60 for one line
$45 for two lines
$30 for three lines
$26.25 for four lines
$24 for five lines
$100/month for Essentials 4 Line Offer - better deal if you sign up for all four lines at once.
Prices per line (taxes/fees included):
$75 for one line
$65 for two lines
$51.67 for three lines
$45 for four lines
$41 for five lines
Prices per line (taxes/fees included):
$90 for one line
$75 for two lines
$61.67 for three lines
$55 for four lines
$51 for five lines
Prices per line (taxes/fees included):
$100 for one line
$85 for two lines
$71.67 for three lines
$65 for four lines
$61 for five lines
As you can see, T-Mobile has changed its plans fairly recently, phasing out the older Magenta offerings and consolidating its Go5G options. Wondering which plan is right for you?
Let’s also not forget the carrier also offers great prepaid options that require no credit check or obligation. While prepaid used to be nearly as good on T-Mobile as its postpaid service, these days there are no longer premium data options or anything. You can learn more in the chart above, but for most it’s worth getting Essentials unless credit or other factors are an issue.
Not overwhelmed by choice yet? There are also MVNOs that run on T-Mobile’s network but are not officially operated by the carrier. This includes Metro by T-Mobile as well as completely independent options, like Mint Mobile. We’ll talk about those a bit later in this guide.
As you can see, there are a lot of similarities between T-Mobile’s different prepaid and postpaid offerings. So, what’s the real difference between the two? Let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of prepaid service:
Pros:
Cons:
That’s honestly the biggest difference: customer service and extras. Believe it or not, network quality is not a major difference, though. In fact, as we highlighted above, T-Mobile Prepaid Unlimited is actually prioritized above the postpaid Essentials plan.
Notably, T-Mobile charges customers a $5 surcharge if they pay their bill in-store. To avoid this, users must pay on the web through T-Mobile.com, via the T-Mobile app, or set up autopay.
We’ve already highlighted which plans are best for what kind of users in the section above, but which ones do I recommend personally? These days there’s a lot less choice, so for most users, Go5G Plus is going to strike the most balance. If you want to save money, Essentials is a close second. Lastly, Next should really only be for those who care about frequent device upgrades or improved phone deals over the other tiers.
The Go5G Plus plan starts at $90 for one line but gets as low as $46.25 per line for four lines. You get unlimited Premium data, 50GB hotspot access, and extras like Netflix Standard with Ads, as well as Apple TV Plus. For most consumers this is going to be the best plan as you get all the data you could use without worrying about slowdowns, and there are plenty of perks. The only reason to go for Next is if you really care about its better deals on upgrades.
Again, we recommend Plus for most, but Essentials is a close second. There are no streaming services included, and you get just 50GB of premium data, but that’s still more than enough for most users. Prices start as low as $50 for the one-line Essentials Saver plan. The standard Essentials plan is the same thing but lets you add up to four users and can go as low as $26.50 a month. Want to save even more? You can get Essentials Four Line Offer, where you sign up for four lines at once for a rate of $100 a month ($25 per line).