Other Prepaid Mobile Services
Mint Mobile is a prepaid service that uses the T-Mobile network (T-Mobile acquired the company in 2024). Plans start at $15 for 5 GB, though they offer an Unlimited tier for $30 (and sometimes that’s on sale for less). Mint’s prices are lower, but the company’s plans have fewer service and data limits, and Mint doesn’t offer smartwatch plans at all. International calls and data are expensive, too.
Cricket Wireless is a prepaid service owned by AT&T. It offers unlimited plans starting at $35 per month, although the entry-level plan does not include hotspot data (sold as an add-on). Line discounts are decent for up to five lines, so Cricket can be great for family plans. Cricket Wireless has many stores in the US, which is unusual for a prepaid phone service provider, and makes Cricket a solid choice if you prefer to speak with a customer representative face-to-face.
Metro owned by T-Mobile. The company’s Unlimited 5G plans, available for $25 per month or $20 per month (when billed on a six-month cycle), are robust, as Metro offers 35 GB of high-speed data and unlimited talk and text. However, these programs do not have hot spot support, and basic international support is an add-on service. Metro has a five-year price lock promise, but Boost by T-Mobile has a “forever” price promise. Like other T-Mobile brands, Metro has multiple retail locations, which can be great if you want face-to-face service.
Direct Speech is owned by Verizon and is often marketed at Walmart locations. It has unlimited talk, text, and data plans starting at $45 per month. These plans have 10 GB of local data and unlimited international calls to Mexico and Canada. However, Verizon-owned US Mobile and Visible plans offer better value and additional features, such as integrated smartwatch support, for the same price.
TracFone is a prepaid cell phone service owned by Verizon. Like Consumer Cellular, its marketing is mainly focused on older users. And like Consumer Cellular, the plans aren’t the best value. Even better, most TracFone plans include rollover data, which is unusual. This may be attractive if you usually don’t need a lot of data, but sometimes you use more than usual.
Ting Mobile is a prepaid cell phone service that uses the Verizon network. It usually uses T-Mobile, and is owned by Boost. Ting offers Unlimited plans, although most Unlimited plans have low data limits for high speeds. Hot-spot data is included in all plans, but international is not included, so you will be charged extra for that. Smart watches are not supported. I personally used this as my first service five years ago, but I changed as its plans became less and less.
Consumer mobile is a brand that markets itself to adults with the promise of convenient, inexpensive service. However, the company’s plans tend to be more expensive than competitors, starting at $20 per month for 1 GB of data. The company ranked high in Consumer Reports’ user surveys, at least. Consumer Cellular has retail locations and opened its 50th store in July 2025.
MobileX is a prepaid service on the Verizon network with a range of pay-as-you-go and unlimited plans. Unlimited plans don’t strike me as compelling, given their limits on data and usage in other countries.
RedPocket Mobile is a prepaid cell phone carrier with access to Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile (users choose a network when they sign up). It has a simple plan with just three tiers, from 3 GB to 50 GB of premium data. Only the premium tier has a hot spot. All plans include a certain level of international coverage in 80 countries, with 100/100 minute texts and lots of data (1 GB to 10 GB), so they are a decent option for people who travel abroad but don’t use enough data to justify the more expensive Google Fi Unlimited Premium plan. I was also frustrated by the RedPocket Mobile app, which proved buggy and often threw errors saying my personal information was incorrect, but didn’t say what was wrong.
Total Wireless is also owned by Verizon and offers unlimited plans starting at $40 per month. It’s a reasonable plan, but again, alternatives from US Mobile and Verizon’s own Visible are more compelling overall.
Cellular until recently, it was the oldest independent MVNO in the US, but it was acquired by T-Mobile in 2024, and T-Mobile plans to merge the company into T-Mobile. So, while you can still buy a plan from the company, it makes more sense to go to T-Mobile.
