When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more
If you’re looking for the best cell phone plan on a budget, your search may end with US Mobile.
US Mobile offers single-line users, and even families and groups, a more affordable alternative to major carrier plans, much like popular budget-friendly mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) like Mint Mobile, Tello Mobile, or Visible Wireless. However, US Mobile offers some of the best value, flexibility, and plans we’ve seen and experienced among MNVOs so far. In several respects, US Mobile puts these popular choices on notice.
In fact, with full access to Verizon’s or T-Mobile’s 4G and 5G networks, identical coverage, identical or comparable speeds, generous amounts of high-speed data, and surprisingly good prices, major carriers don’t have much to boast when compared to US Mobile, either.
US Mobile’s plans are incredibly inexpensive considering how much data you get, as well as access to Verizon or T-Mobile’s full networks, including high-band 5G. Starting at $29/month for 35GB of prioritized data, the Unlimited Starter plan offers the best value of US Mobile’s plans and among comparable plans from MVNOs. US Mobile also offers multi-line discounts and plans with data pools, making it an easy recommendation for families, too.
Plan offerings and flexibility
US Mobile has three unlimited data plans, one plan with a customizable data pool that can be shared among several lines called « Shareable Data, » and an inexpensive « Light Plan » for low data users.
US Mobile’s unlimited plans are among the best in the industry in terms of value and features. They’re offered in either monthly or annual options; as expected, the annual option is better value. Still, US Mobile’s monthly plans put forward incredible value, with among the highest data per dollar plans you can find.
Only Visible Wireless’ base plan and Tello Mobile’s Unlimited plan, both $25/month, offer as much or more data as US Mobile’s $29/month Unlimited Starter plan. However, Visible’s and Tello’s plans provide deprioritized data, which could become slower if their networks are congested by people using prioritized data. Meanwhile, US Mobile offers 35GB of prioritized data, at least on its Warp network option (more on this below).
When you’ve used up the allotted data in any of US Mobile’s unlimited plans, data speeds are significantly reduced, which is common practice for budget-friendly and MVNO carriers. However, US Mobile’s plans reduce speeds to 1Mbps, which gives you some semblance of usability, at least for basic data needs, compared to the typical 256Kbps reduced speeds on many other carriers.
The most distinctive thing about US Mobile is its « Warp » and « GSM » network options, which are US Mobile’s nicknames for « Verizon » and « T-Mobile, » respectively. No other carrier we’ve encountered gives you the choice between two major networks and lets you switch, making US Mobile particularly flexible.
The main difference between the two is coverage, where Warp is Verizon’s network, and GSM is T-Mobile’s network. The Warp network includes prioritized premium data, whereas the GSM network’s data is deprioritized, but more on that below in the data speeds section. The other main difference is connectivity while abroad, which is currently only available on the GSM network option.
Which network is the best for you essentially depends on which network has the best coverage in the places you usually need it. If Verizon and T-Mobile both serve you well, the Verizon option (Warp) will consistently offer faster speeds within your data limit, as it isn’t subject to deprioritization.
You can switch network options whenever you want up to twice a month via your account on a web browser. It’s a fairly easy process that’s essentially the same as setting up US Mobile on your phone for the first time — you use your camera to look at a QR code, tap the link that shows up, and the phone handles the rest. It takes about 15 minutes in total.
Finally, US Mobile offers multi-line discounts, which are more common in major carrier plans than on budget-friendly and MVNO carriers. More than other lower-cost carriers, US Mobile is an excellent option for families or groups.
Note that US Mobile doesn’t support smartwatch connectivity. While it supports tablet data, it’s only available in the Shareable Data plan, which is affordable even if it offers less value than the carrier’s unlimited plans.
Coverage and data speeds
US Mobile’s Warp provides Verizon’s network coverage, while GSM offers T-Mobile’s coverage. As such, the Warp (Verizon) network has better overall coverage that reaches deeper into rural areas, whereas the GSM (T-Mobile) network has excellent coverage in cities, towns, and highways, but it can start to decline the further you get from densely populated areas.
Verizon
I mainly tried US Mobile with the Warp network, as I’m a Verizon customer myself and know exactly where to expect coverage and where the dark zones lurk. During my testing and general experience, I found US Mobile on Warp to offer identical coverage as full-fat Verizon, including Verizon’s Ultra Wideband (UW) 5G network.
T-Mobile
As far as data speeds go, US Mobile offers the full breadth of Verizon’s and T-Mobile’s 5G networks, including their fast high-band 5G networks.
On the US Mobile’s Warp network, I reached the same data speeds I did on Verizon’s 4G and 5G UW when I tested my own plan and phone against US Mobile on a separate phone (the Galaxy S24 Plus) at different locations. That’s to say, US Mobile offers high-end, fast data. On the GSM network, I found that data speeds were also exceptionally fast.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
US Mobile’s Warp network has an advantage when it comes to data prioritization. Only the Warp network includes prioritized « premium » data, where a user’s data isn’t deprioritized and slowed down against prioritized Verizon customers during times and places where there’s network congestion. That’s not to say that you’d always get the top speeds available on the Warp network — network congestion can slow down a connection, even with premium prioritization, as shown by the last speed test result in the image above.
Meanwhile, US Mobile’s GSM network offers T-Mobile’s high-speed data, which is deprioritized against T-Mobile customers with prioritized premium data. If T-Mobile’s network is congested at a certain location and time, data speeds on US Mobile’s GSM network can be affected. That’s typical for an MVNO. However, we haven’t found that deprioritization poses much of a problem after testing T-Mobile and MVNO carriers that run on T-Mobile’s network. Additionally, there’s no indicator that suggests data is being deprioritized, and it can be hard to tell.
You can check Verizon’s coverage map against T-Mobile’s to see which option suits your area better.
Customer support
I tried US Mobile’s customer chat support via the app, and I was pleasantly surprised by the responsiveness and ability to exchange messages with a real person.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
I didn’t run into experience-breaking issues, so I couldn’t test the effectiveness of US Mobile’s support to fix a problem that affected connectivity. Still, there’s a support phone number you can call to speak to someone, which can prove to be more efficient than a text-based chat service.
As far as the app goes, it’s quite well laid out and easy to navigate to manage your plan and check up on data usage. However, the app currently lacks a way to switch between the Warp and GSM networks, as you have to make that change through a web browser.
Should you sign up for US Mobile?
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
For those covered by Verizon’s or T-Mobile’s networks in the US, we enthusiastically recommend US Mobile’s offerings among the best cheap cell phone plans on the market.
While US Mobile’s Unlimited plans aren’t the absolute cheapest, they’re not far, and they’re quite simply the best. The small extra cost relative to other MVNO plans can easily be justified by the astounding option to switch between Verizon’s and T-Mobile’s networks — it’s a singular and useful feature I’ve never seen before, whether on a budget or premium carrier, and it actually works.
US Mobile’s multi-line discounts are also unique among MVNO and budget-friendly carriers, making it an ideal option for families.
The fact that US Mobile doesn’t utterly deaden your data speeds after using up a month’s data allotment, like most other carriers, is also a major benefit. Your speeds are reduced to a slow 1Mbps, but it’s still usable for basic functions. To be sure, it’s unlikely that most people would ever exceed 35GB in a single month, but it’s nice to know you won’t be totally disconnected if you do.
FAQs
Which networks does US Mobile use?
US Mobile runs on Verizon’s and T-Mobile’s 4G and 5G networks and offers the unique ability to switch between the two networks.
The MVNO’s Verizon-backed network is called Warp, while its T-Mobile-backed network is called GSM.
Is US Mobile deprioritized?
US Mobile features allotments of prioritized data through its Verizon-backed Warp network, while data on its GSM network is subject to deprioritization behind T-Mobile’s premium customers.
Antonio is a senior tech reporter for Insider's Reviews team, where he helps lead coverage, reviews, and guides of smartphones, tablets, accessories, wearables, smart home products, as well as audio devices from Apple, Google, Samsung, OnePlus, and other major tech companies. Before joining Business Insider, Antonio was a consumer-electronics analyst at PCMag. He graduated from Colgate University in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in history.
You can contact Antonio with tips and cool tech via email at: avillasboas@businessinsider.com
Learn more about how our team of experts tests and reviews products at Insider here.
Learn more about how we test tech and electronics."/>
->Google Actualités
